Wind is enemy as firefighters await chance to prevail

Heavy winds have continued to fan the flames of the Reynolds Creek Fire over the past three days, leaving firefighting crews little opportunity to establish any level of control over the approximately 5,000-acre blaze.

As they did Wednesday, fire management personnel on Thursday continued to seek out anchor points along the fire’s southern perimeter where they could begin digging fire lines, while helicopters circled over the northeast front, dropping water to slow the flames’ advance.

“Their primary tactic is to look for a place to anchor and do direct suppression,” said incident management team spokeswoman Jennifer Costich.

Downwind lay the town of St. Mary, a major gateway to Glacier National Park, where firefighters assessed their ability to protect at-risk structures. The Rising Sun and St. Mary Campgrounds were evacuated Tuesday, two popular sites along the northern edge of St. Mary Lake that contain a combined 232 camp sites. On Wednesday the west shore of St. Mary Lake was evacuated, along with other areas including the KOA Campground on the east side of St. Mary.

Park spokeswoman Dianne Sine said direct suppression crews were working along the advancing front of the fire, using saws to remove timber in its path.

“One of the challenges is downed trees, so they have crews on the ground removing fuel from the area where they don’t want it to spread,” said Sine.

No further evacuations had been ordered in the area as of Thursday night, although the management team and local agencies continued to evaluate the possibility of a mandatory evacuation in St. Mary if conditions worsen.

Park rangers continued sweeping trails and trailheads for hikers unaware of the nearby danger through Wednesday, and Costich said by Thursday afternoon they were confident the immediately affected area was clear.