Kalispell woman is one of many who experienced Glacier fire first-hand
<p><strong>DEBRA ARNOLD</strong> of Kalispell was one of the many visitors to Glacier Park on Tuesday who were shocked to witness the explosive Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire. She said it was “the weirdest, creepiest thing.” (Courtesy Debra Arnold)</p>
Debra Arnold of Kalispell was among the hikers in Glacier National Park who made a speedy exit from the park after the Reynolds Creek Fire roared to life Tuesday afternoon.
She was hiking to St. Mary Falls with her ex-brother-in-law, Art Arnold of Texas, and had just passed a ranger who coincidentally was talking to a group of visitors about both the benefits and detriments of fire. Arnold rounded a corner and smelled smoke.
“A few hundred yards later we saw the smoke plume. It was still white at that point,” Arnold said.
Then the plume quickly turned an orange-yellow color, and not long after, the sun shining through the fire and smoke made the trail look orange.
“It was the weirdest, creepiest thing,” she said. “There was an orange glow on the trail.”
Arnold estimated they were not more than a couple of miles from the blaze and were getting smoke and ash from the fire. Visitors were running down from Virginia Falls, and the same ranger they’d passed came up to alert them and other hikers to get out now.
Once they got back to the St. Mary parking lot, they got a ride to where their vehicle was parked at Sunrift Gorge. Arnold estimated it took close to an hour to get out of the park because of construction on Going-to-the-Sun Road and emergency-vehicle traffic as first responders moved in.
As Arnold headed back up Montana 89, the fire “was huge,” she said. “It was a monster.”
They climbed to the highest overlook on the highway and saw the fire raging along a ridge line about 10 to 15 miles long, she said.
The encounter with fire in Glacier was a first for Arnold, she said.