Quartz Fire in Glacier National Park expanded over the weekend

Several wildfires continued to burn in northwest Montana over the weekend while passing thunderstorms sparked dozens of small blazes across the region on Saturday and Sunday.

The Quartz Fire continues to burn in Glacier National Park, growing from 150 acres Thursday to 1,678 as of Monday morning.

The fire continued to spread primarily to the south and west Sunday, moving further down the Quartz Lake shore. There was additional growth in a high basin on the northwest side of Logging Mountain. On the north end, the fire remains east and south of Quartz Creek.

Afternoon rainfall helped suppress growth of the Quartz Fire on Sunday, but lightning from the storm sparked a new fire. Smoke from the West Flattop Fire was first observed from Swiftcurrent Lookout at 4:37 p.m. The lightning was accompanied by rain, and fire growth was limited to one-tenth acre.

Three Glacier National Park firefighters were inserted via a Flathead National Forest helicopter Monday morning to suppress the fire on West Flattop Mountain.

“We assess the danger of each fire on a case-by-case basis and make decisions based on public and fire personnel safety,” fire information officer Diane Sine said. “The Quartz Fire is in a steep, remote area where getting firefighters in there would be risky while the West Flattop Fire could easily spread down the valley and into Canada and is in an area we can get to.”

The park announced the closure of Quartz Lake and Lower Quartz Lake wilderness campgrounds and the Quartz Lake Loop Trail last week owing to the fire. The Quartz Creek Trail off the Inside North Fork Road is also closed.

Firefighters based at the foot of Quartz Lake completed plumbing sprinklers at the Quartz Lake wilderness campground Sunday and are expected to complete structure protection on a footbridge at the outlet of Quartz Lake today.

Crews completed historic structure protection efforts for the Quartz Lake Patrol Cabin at the foot of Quartz Lake, which included laying hoses with pumps and sprinklers as well wrapping with fire resistant material.

Glacier National Park, along with interagency partners from the Flathead National Forest and Blackfeet Tribe, will continue to patrol for any additional fire starts from Sunday’s storm.

The fire danger rating in Glacier National Park is currently listed as very high. Park officials reminded visitors that campfires are allowed only in designated fire grates and should be kept small. They stressed that visitors should never leave a fire unattended and drown any campfire with water until cold to the touch before leaving it.

Outside of the park, the Garceau Fire continues to burn 10 miles west of Polson and grew from 3,200 acres Thursday to 6,724 as of Monday morning.

A crew of 340 continues to battle the blaze, which was started by an electric fence. The fire is listed as being 40 percent contained.

Crews will continue to secure perimeter and grid for hot spots on both divisions of the fire, which split into east and west flanks last week. Helicopters will be used on hot spots.

There are no evacuations and there are no structures threatened at this time, but Irvine Flats and Garcon Gulch Roads going up to Windy Gap are closed to through traffic.

The Spotted Bear District of the Bob Marshall Wilderness continues to monitor three lightning-caused blazes, including the Cannon, Dean Creek and Highrock fires.

The Cannon Fire was detected on Aug. 7 and is primarily burning in the Cannon Creek drainage. It has burned 1,234 acres on the south facing side of the slope.

The fire has spotted over the ridge into the sub drainage that separates Cannon and Gorge Creeks.

The Spotted Bear Lookout and Jumbo Lookout will continue to monitor fire activity, with assistance from aerial reconnaissance resources.

For public and firefighter safety, portions of NFS Trails 107, 115, 218, 226, 493 and 693 are closed.

The Dean Creek Fire was detected on Aug. 14 and is burning in the Dean Creek drainage.

The fire has burned 219 acres on the lower third of the southeasterly facing slope approximately three miles up the drainage from the junction with Spotted Bear River.

For public and firefighter safety, portions of NFS Trails 87, 109, 333 and 359 are closed in the Dean Creek drainage area. NFS Trail 83 is open adjacent to the closure, with no camping allowed in the closed area.

The Weasel Fire continues to burn on the U.S.-Canadian border and grew roughly 500 acres in each country over the weekend.

As of Monday, the fire had burned 2,078 acres in the US and 2,570 in Canada and is listed as 20 percent contained.

Located just south of Frozen Lake, the fire has burned across road 114A and is heading south towards the fire scar from the 2017 Weasel Fire. Fire behavior has been minimal with creeping, smoldering and isolated torching of trees.

An area closure order is in place and posted that restricts access to the fire area for public and firefighter safety. Forest Service Road 319 to the Weasel Cabin is closed but Forest Service Road 114 to Polebridge remains open.

The Sutton Fire originated Aug. 14 and is a lightning-caused fire burning 108 acres 13 miles southeast of Eureka and approximately 60 miles north of Libby. There was very little growth over the weekend.

The Elmo 2 Fire was listed as having burned 21,349 acres as of Friday morning and was 78 percent contained. Information on the fire had not been updated as of Monday morning.

The National Weather Service predicts high temperatures in the 80s with a chance of thunderstorms throughout the week in the Flathead area.