Lake Mary Ronan State Park reopens as Elmo Fire withers
A scooper plan dips into Flathead Lake while providing water drops for the Elmo 2 Fire on the Flathead Reservation. (Rob Zolman/Lake County Leader)
Lake Mary Ronan State Park and its access road reopened to traffic Wednesday as crews expanded containment of the Elmo 2 Fire.
The fire west of Flathead Lake showed no new growth Wednesday morning, with total acres burned since the blaze began estimated at 21,348. It was at 61% containment.
During a public fire update meeting Monday at the Elmo Pow Wow Grounds, Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 7 commander John Thompson expressed hopefulness that his team would have around 90% fire containment by the week's end.
“We are glad things are getting better, every day we are getting closer to containment,” explained Thompson. “We have been very blessed to have gotten a lot of firefighting resources to help us and we have gotten some great changes in the weather when we have needed it.”
According to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center, only one structure remains threatened.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday at noon lifted pre-evacuation warnings for Lake Mary Ronan Road west of Dayton Creek Road. Pre-evacuations also have been lifted for the areas of Chief Cliff Lane, Black Lake Road, Big Meadows Road and Dayton Creek.
An evacuation order remains in place for Camp Tuffit and West Shore Road residents, where the fire continues to be most active.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff consulted with Thompson on Tuesday and jointly determined it was safe to reopen the state park and resume normal operations at the site, including camping.
Another day of favorable weather allowed the nearly 550 firefighters assigned to the Elmo Fire to strengthen fire lines and begin mop up work.
Fire activity is mostly confined to the north flank at Lake Mary Ronan, where a spot fire cropped up Tuesday.
Four scoopers and three helicopters are assigned to the fire.
Total cost to fight the fire since it began July 29 is estimate at $11.4 million.
TO THE south, the Redhorn Fire grew to 511 acres in size. It is burning on steep and rugged terrain on the Mission Mountains north of St. Ignatius.
About 120 firefighters are assigned to the blaze, along with super scoopers, helicopters and single-engine air tankers. Cost to fight the fire is estimated at $700,000.
On the Canadian border in Lincoln County, the Weasel Fire grew by 162 acres. It has burned 3,229 acres since it began July 30.
About 74 firefighters from the U.S. are woking on the fire.