Glacier confirms structure losses

Numerous privately owned cabins and National Park Service structures burned to the ground after the lightning-caused Howe Ridge Fire made a run Sunday night, Glacier National Park officials confirmed Tuesday.

According to the park, approximately seven private cabins and additional outbuildings at the historic Kelly’s Camp on Lake McDonald were lost in the blaze that is now estimated to be more than 2,500 acres.

The main Kelly’s camp house, a second cabin and other structures under park ownership also were destroyed. One Kelly’s Camp home did survive the fire, the park confirmed, as did multiple other privately owned homes and structures in other areas of North McDonald Road.

It is believed that three outbuildings of the Park Service-owned Wheeler residence, the Wheeler boat house and the boat house at the Lake McDonald Ranger Station were lost as well. The main Wheeler cabin caught fire, however it survived the blaze “after valiant firefighting efforts,” park officials stated.

The nearby Lake McDonald Ranger Station was also saved, following a fire on its roof.

The Clack cabins, roughly 1,100 feet from the Wheeler Cabin and about 150 feet from the ranger station, were spared from the fire as well, according to Turner Askew of Whitefish, a member of the Clack family.

Park Superintendent Jeff Mow on Tuesday called the loss of historic structures “a heartbreaking time at the park.”

“We’ve lost extremely important historic buildings that tell a piece of the park’s story, and multiple people have lost homes that have welcomed their families to the shores of Lake McDonald for generations,” he stated Tuesday.

Cabin owner Regina McGee said her cabin and several others were destroyed in the fire.

According to the park, Kelly’s Camp, located along the west shore of the north end of Lake McDonald, began as a cabin resort developed by Frank Frank and Emmeline Kelly in the early years of the park. Homesteaded by Frank Kelly in 1894, by 1931 it had become a popular summer cabin resort.

Some of the cabins were sold over the years. Others stayed in the family.

The main Kelly house, known as the “Big House,” was owned by the Park Service. It was the first to catch on fire, McGee claimed.

Neglected for years, she said, it burned to the ground.

McGee said she is done mourning and that she’ll rebuild. She lives in Mississippi most of the year, but spends summers at the camp.

“I’ll make it happen,” she said. “I don’t care what it looks like.”

She said the alternative is to simply be devastated.

“I’m not going to live like that.”

The Wheeler Complex, east of Kelly’s camp, was owned by Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler, and used by Sen. Wheeler and his family as their summer home starting in 1916. The National Park Service acquired the property in 2014. The original cabin burned down in 1941 and was rebuilt shortly thereafter, along with four other buildings on the property, according to the Glacier National Park Conservancy. The Conservancy launched a fundraising campaign in 2016 to rehabilitate the site in partnership with the University of Montana and the Glacier Institute.

The park is still doing an inventory and cautioned that other structures may be lost as well.

Glacier spokesperson Lauren Alley said that because the fire is still actively burning in the area, property owners haven’t been able to access the site to fully assess the damage.

Alley said the property owners would be able to rebuild along the lake, so long as they conformed to lakefront and water/sewer regulations.

The Howe Ridge Fire was estimated at 2,578 acres as of Tuesday morning. It was sparked by lightning Aug. 11 just above Kelly Camp. A map published Tuesday shows that the fire has burned most of the northwest lakeshore from the end of North Lake McDonald Road to the Lake McDonald Ranger Station.

The fire is moving through terrain that burned in the 2003 Robert Fire.

Residents said they first reported smoke to park rangers Saturday night. A firefighting crew was sent to the fire, which was small at the time, but with the thick trees and downed brush they were unable to get to it in the dark. A dozen firefighters attempted to reach the fire again on Sunday, but were unable to get there safely, said Chief Ranger Paul Austin.

Later that afternoon aerial resources, including a pair of CL-215 “Super scoopers” from Canada, attempted to soak the blaze, but had little effect.

After an ember storm started multiple spot fires Sunday evening, the area was evacuated. But some residents said they left on their own volition and never received an evacuation notice from the Park.

“No phone calls, no knocks, nothing from the Park Service,” one landowner said at a community meeting Monday night.

Homeowners at the meeting were also critical of the park’s initial response. They openly wondered why aircraft weren’t brought in sooner, and claimed that if water drops had happened Saturday evening, perhaps the fire could have been stopped.

“If you can’t get at (these fires) in a short amount of time, they’re gone...There has to be rapid response of some type,” said one resident to applause from the crowd.

Officials reported that fire behavior moderated on Monday with more favorable weather conditions. Crews on the ground, supported by a CL-215 “Super scooper” and a K-Max helicopter, worked to limit the spread of the fire to the north. About 60 firefighters are assigned to the blaze.

Firefighters planned to continue to suppress spot fires along the north end of Lake McDonald. Aerial resources were focused on the north and southwest edges of the fire.

Evacuation orders remain in place for North Lake McDonald Road, the Lake McDonald Lodge Complex, Avalanche and Sprague Creek campgrounds, nearby hiking trails and a portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Glacier National Park is under Stage 2 fire restrictions, which prohibits campfires and smoking outside.

Going-to-the-Sun Road remains closed between the head of Lake McDonald and Logan Pass. Visitors can drive 2 miles from the West Entrance to the foot of Lake McDonald, and 18.5 miles from the St. Mary Entrance to Logan Pass on the east side of the park.