Fire near Marion grows to 500 acres
The lightning-caused Lemonade Fire burns near Marion. (Inciweb photo)
A fire that cropped up west of Kalispell on Sept. 1 drew a significant firefighter response over the weekend.
As of Sunday morning, the lightning-caused Lemonade Fire had burned about 500 acres. Approximately 130 firefighters were assigned to the blaze that is burning in heavy timber near Marion. A few structures are threatened, according to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center.
The fire was moving toward the northeast.
A Type Two Incident Management Team arrived over the weekend and was expected to take command Monday.
On Sunday, crews were planning to work with heavy equipment constructing direct fireline around the perimeter of the fire. Weather is expected to be cooler with significant relative humidity recoveries overnight, however breezy conditions will exist.
Forest Service Road 538 and trails 287, 211 and 210 are expected to be closed.
On the Kootenai Forest, a group of fires that started Sept. 1 have been combined into the Bull Gin Complex, about 2 miles northeast of Heron.
The approximate acreage of the complex is 150 acres. A Type 2 Incident Management Team was ordered to take command.
The Northern Rockies Coordination Center reports that some structures, mining claims, timber and bull trout habitat are threatened.
Air quality across Northwest Montana on Sunday was rated as unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Smoke is comprised of local fires along with large fires burning in Idaho, California, Washington and Oregon.