Open burning to close early

Officials are still investigating the cause of a wildfire Sunday afternoon next to Jewel Basin Road.

“It does look like it was human-caused,” said Richard Kehr, the Swan Lake district ranger for Flathead National Forest. “We haven’t had any lightning storms in that area for a while, so we are investigating.”

Dry conditions have prompted Flathead County to shut down open burning as of midnight today. The burning season had been scheduled to end June 30.

“With only a few days left in the open burning season, I hope that these actions might heighten the public’s awareness as we head into the Fourth” of July, Whitefish Fire Chief Joe Page said in an email, noting that temperatures in the valley are predicted to approach 100 degrees this weekend.

Fire danger officially is “moderate” in Flathead County. Missoula County raised its fire danger to “very high” on Monday.

Sunday’s two-acre fire apparently started at a popular shooting area on the north side of Jewel Basin Road. Firefighters from Flathead Forest, Bigfork Fire Department and the Montana Department of Natural Resources responded quickly after the fire was spotted at around 4:30 p.m. by Mick Borges, assistant fire chief in Bigfork.

Bigfork Fire Chief Wayne Loeffler said Monday that crews had the fire contained by about 9 p.m. Sunday.

Crews stayed out overnight extinguishing hot spots. On Monday afternoon, 18 firefighters were still on the scene, along with a water truck, according to Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Ema Braunberger.

Loeffler urged caution for people recreating in the woods.

“We want to let everybody know it’s extremely dry out there and with the hot weather predicted over the next couple weeks, people need to be very, very careful,” Loeffler said.

High temperatures for the Flathead Valley are expected to soar to 97 on Saturday and 100 on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Today is the only day with possible precipitation in the forecast: a 30 percent chance of showers today and 20 percent tonight.

According to the Weather Service, Kalispell is currently 1.25 inches of rain below normal for June, typically the area’s wettest month. For the year, Kalispell is 2.1 inches of precipitation below normal.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.