Crews busy putting out fires

A group of fires pulled Flathead Valley fire departments in multiple directions Monday afternoon. 

Fire calls started coming in around 2:45 p.m., beginning with a grass fire on Gentry Way. Fires near Echo Lake and on Whitefish Trail were determined to be controlled burns. Grass fires on La Brant Road and Shady Lane required multiple firefighting units. By about 4:45 p.m., all of the fires had been put out.

 An apparent text message error escalated the situation for the recipient. The message read “Help. Please call 911,” so the recipient did just that. Upon investigation, the person who sent it meant to write “Help. Please call me” and was otherwise all right.

A drunken man was lying in the junipers near Sykes’ on Second Avenue West. A Kalispell Police Department officer gave the man a ride home.  

An alarming call came from Third Avenue West, where someone reported “about eight kids beating up one person.”

Someone reported 15 sheep running lose near Sunnyside Drive and Fifth Avenue West.

Suspicious of wrongdoing, a caller reported two men on East Idaho Street who were “handing out shiny rocks.”

Weird noises made a Jubilee Court resident nervous at 4 a.m. An officer arrived and found everything to be normal, although a newspaper had been placed on the doorstep.

A woman called the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office because her son locked her out of the house. She said that the youth was sitting inside “mocking her.”

A skateboarder was reported to be cruising down the middle of Foy’s Lake Road. Authorities were unable to locate the thrill-seeker.

Three men were reportedly loitering around a U.S. 2 East casino. One of them played a dollar in the machine. Another used the bathroom. Other than that, they just wandered around, according to the caller. Deputies were unable to locate the men, one of whom was described as having “long, crazy hair.”

Multiple reports of gunfire were made in the U.S. 93 South and Cemetery Road area. On caller said it sounded like a three-shot burst. Another called it an “automatic weapon.”

After driving in circles in an Airport Road parking lot, a woman attempted to pick a fight, according to a caller. She hopped in someone else’s pickup and left before deputies arrived.