Smoke, ash from Thompson Falls fire reach Flathead
<p><strong>Smoke from</strong> the Copper King Fire obscures the Somers water tower on Monday morning. Smoke descended on Flathead Lake Sunday night as the fire east of Thompson Falls doubled in size. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
After a fire near Thompson Falls doubled its size on Sunday, smoke poured into the Flathead Valley, particularly shrouding the Flathead Lake area.
Residents of Creston, Bigfork and Lakeside awoke on Monday to find ash falling from the smoke plume and visibility was limited.
The Copper King Fire grew to more than 6,900 acres on Sunday, sending up a sizable smoke plume that was carried northeast by the wind.
The fire is 8 miles east of Thompson Falls and one mile north of Montana 200.
A weather front Sunday pushed a major expansion in the Copper King Fire, then sent the smoke toward the Flathead. By Monday morning, smoke also was spreading to the Missoula area.
On Monday afternoon, the smoke plume from Thompson Falls had reached the Hi-Line in Eastern Montana, prompting air-quality alerts for Blaine, Glacier, Hill, Liberty, and Toole counties.
Havre’s air quality was “unhealthy” on Monday afternoon.
Fires in Idaho and eastern Washington — particularly around Spokane — also may be contributing some smoke to Western Montana, according to the National Weather Service.
Libby’s air quality was listed as “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on Monday.
A series of wildfires in the Spokane area had destroyed at least 16 homes and continued to grow on Monday.
One fire near Davenport in Lincoln County, just west of Spokane, had scorched more than nine square miles by Monday morning, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
The fire jumped the Spokane River and threatened the small community of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Residents were told to evacuate after the town lost power.
Another wildfire south of Spokane near Spangle grew to more than six square miles on Monday morning, and some residents of the rural area were ordered to evacuate. A third fire was burning on the northeast side of Spokane. That fire had scorched 250 acres by Sunday evening and officials said some homes were likely destroyed.
The Montana air-quality situation was expected to improve today, when winds shift and smoke from the fire is carried to the southeast, according to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.