Evacuations ordered near Elmo as fire grows to 4,000 acres

Evacuation orders were issued Friday night after a wildfire blew up near Elmo on the west side of Flathead Lake.

The human-caused Elmo 2 Fire was estimated at about 4,000 acres in size as of Saturday morning. Fire behavior was described as extreme with 0% containment.

An evacuation zone extended from north of Big Arm to Dayton along U.S. 93, along Montana 28, and along Lake Mary Ronan Road from mile marker 5 to U.S. 93.

Elmo was considered to be a level 3 evacuation status, which means people in that area should leave immediately. Others in the evacuation zone should be prepared to leave, the Polson Fire Department alerted.

Montana Red Cross opened a shelter at the Linderman School gym at 312 4th Ave. E., in Polson. Residents can also request services by calling 1-800-272-6668.

Montana 28 was closed and people were advised to avoid the area. Aircraft was expected to be using Flathead Lake near Elmo to refill water buckets.

Campers at both Lake Mary Ronan State Park and Big Arm State Park were evacuated and the sites are closed until further notice, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported Saturday.

An estimated 100 firefighters were on the scene. The blaze was being managed as a Type 3 Incident.

Initial responders included emergency personnel from Lake County, CSKT Tribal Division of Fire, Chief Cliff, Rollins, Hot Springs, Polson, Ronan, Finley Point and Mission, with air support and smoke jumpers from the Missoula DNRC.

Meanwhile, a small wildfire was detected Friday evening in a remote area of Glacier National Park.

The Flattop Mountain Fire was initially reported at less than 1 acre as of 6 p.m. GPS coordinates from the Kalispell Interagency Dispatch Center put the fire just west of the Continental Divide Trail on Flattop Mountain, northwest of The Loop on Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Another 2 acre fire sparked up Friday afternoon in grass and timber on the Flathead Forest west of Lakeside.

According to the Kalispell Interagency Dispatch Center, the Eagle Mountain Fire was at 1.5 acres as of 4 p.m. Firefighting resources had been assigned to the blaze.

Fire danger was rated as high on the Flathead Forest.

According to the DNRC fire information dashboard, five new fires were reported in Montana on Friday. Two others were reported near Miles City, and another near Great Falls. Size estimates were not available.

The National Weather Service in Missoula says a dangerous heat wave will continue to impact all of the Northern Rockies through the weekend.

Heat warnings and advisories were in effect for north central Idaho and western Montana through Sunday. Forecasters said temperatures could top 105 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.

The lates wildfire information is online at www.mtfireinfo.org