Small wildfire contained in Sanders County

Smokejumpers on Thursday, July 4 attacked a small wildfire that cropped up in a forested area of rural Sanders County.

The 4-acre Fishtrap Fire on the Lolo National Forest north of Thompson Falls was quickly contained Friday after showing moderate behavior. The initial attack included 10 smokejumpers and firefighting crews from the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District and Montana DNRC. 

A 20-person Type 2 crew and two helicopters helped contain the fire and were mopping up on Friday. The cause of the fire was unknown.

The incident was among a few small blazes detected across Western Montana on Thursday. The Timber Creek incident in western Mineral County, the School Acres Road incident in Sanders County and the MM 85 incident west of Missoula were each less than 1 acre in size. Officials said the School Access Road fire possibly started from an old burn pile.

Fire danger was rated as low on the Flathead Forest and moderate on the Lolo Forest on Friday. However, hot and dry conditions are expected to develop across the region next week. A heat advisory was issued for the Lower Clark Fork region of Western Montana through July 13.

"Expect certainly a real strong trend toward more fire activity as we get through the next week," warned Daniel Borsum, a meteorologist with Predictive Services. "As we get into the beginning of next week and especially by the middle of next week, almost everybody in Montana and Idaho has that concern."