Fire crews brace for strong, east winds

Firefighters in Northwest Montana are bracing for strong, eastward winds forecast for Sunday evening. Fires have torched over 735,000 acres in Montana this summer, prompting Montana Gov. Steve Bullock to declare a state of disaster on Friday, which will allow the governor to mobilize additional state fire resources like additional members of the Montana National Guard.

Glacier National Park rangers issued an evacuation warning Saturday for the Sprague Fire, effective from the south end of Lake McDonald north to Logan Pass, which also includes North McDonald Road. The warning does not encompass the Apgar area, and Going-to-the-Sun Road will remain open. The Sprague Fire, currently at 5,116 acres, burned the main building of the historic Sperry Chalet Thursday night, despite the efforts of firefighters and four helicopters. The firefighters were able to save four remaining structures near the lodge.

According to InciWeb, on Sunday morning the Park will close all trails accessible via Going-to-the-Sun Road from the south end of the lake to Avalanche Creek. Fort Apache Hotshots will work in the Lake McDonald area to lay hoses, sprinklers and pumps in preparation for the east winds.

The fire is growing closer to the Mount Brown Lookout, a small square building that looks down on Lake McDonald. The lookout is considered a priority value at risk and has been wrapped with protective material, according to InciWeb. Backcountry cabins, campgrounds, footbridges and other structures in the Lake McDonald area are also being threatened by the fire’s progression.

The Kooenai National Forest announced Saturday that the Caribou Fire northwest of Eureka, estimated at 6,781 acres, has continued burning east toward Road 303. Crews and heavy equipment along Road 303 are providing structure protection. Pre-evacuation warnings have been issued for all areas in West Kootenai as of 7 p.m. on Friday.

Structures in the area are threatened and structure protection assessments have begun for West Kootenai starting in the Spring Creek area. Fire managers said they will continue to coordinate with Canadian fire managers on fire protocol.

The Red Cross of Montana and the Eureka community reopened a shelter Saturday at the First Church of God in Eureka in response to Caribou wildfire evacuations.

Also near Eureka, the Gibraltar Ridge Fire has reached 27 percent containment at 6,657 acres. Temperatures are expected to increase over the weekend, inciting a jump in fire activity, according to InciWeb. A helicopter dropped water on the ridge north of Williams Creek to slow its progression, while crews continue to monitor the east, west and south sides of the fire.

A pre-evacuation warning is in effect for the Sherman Creek, Griffith Creek, Therriault Pass Road, Stevens Creek, Glen Lake and Sinclair Creek areas, while Grave Creek Road and the Ten Lakes Recreation area are closed above the Grave Creek and Foothills Road junction.

The West Fork Fire, located near Libby, has grown to 900 acres as of Saturday, according to a Kootenai Interagency Dispatch Center website. The fire was first reported at 10:48 a.m. Wednesday.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is asking people to avoid the Kootenai River Road, Quartz Creek Road, Quartz Mountain Road, Bobtail Road and Bobtail Cutoff areas.

“Please stay clear and away from the Quartz Creek/Bobtail area, unless you have a residence,” states a 10 a.m. Saturday post to the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. “Unnecessary traffic limits people from doing their job correct and fully.”

Search and rescue personnel are “going door-to-door” to give pre-evacuation notices to about 50 homes “up in the end of the Bobtail Road area,” Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said in a phone interview shortly before 10:45 a.m. Saturday.

“A local Type 3 Fire Response Team is in place providing for fire suppression tactics,” states the Emergency Management Agency Facebook post. “The team’s focus is to get an accurate size up of the fire with weather dictating line construction activities. Hot and dry weather conditions will continue over the coming days make the fire active.”

The Emergency Management Agency post also notes today being the start of archery hunting season, and asks hunters to “please avoid active fire areas.”

Friday evening the fire was a dramatic backdrop to the Libby-Corvallis football game at Libby High School. Area residents posted to various Facebook pages photos and footage from various locations of billowing smoke that glowed orange at its base.

Activity of the Rice Ridge Fire, located northeast of Seely Lake, increased Saturday afternoon due to low humidity, high temps and extremely dry fuels. The fire is largely spreading to the east/northeast back toward the main body of the fire and is currently 18 percent contained.

On Friday, helicopters and heavy equipment were used to suppress hot spots and firefighters worked to remove unburned fuels along the fire’s perimeter from the Morrel Lookout to Cottonwood Lakes Road. Saturday, crews will continue mop up operations and monitor Cottonwood Lakes Road for any activity south of the road, according to a Northern Rockies Incident Management Team update. Three helicopters will also drop water on the blaze and conduct aerial observations. Firefighters will also continue structure protection efforts in the Double Arrow Ranch, Highway 83 corridor and Kozy Korner. The fire spurred multiple evacuation orders in late August by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, the latest of which was issued Aug. 24. The lightning-caused fire was first reported in the early evening of July 24 and has since spread to over 40,000 acres.

A small fire is also burning on the east side of Flathead Lake in the Teepee Creek drainage, parallel to Wild Horse Island State Park. The Blue Bay Fire, which was caused by lightning, was reported Aug. 10 and grew to 490 acres.

The fire is at 80 percent containment and although homes and outbuilding are located within half a mile of the fire, they are not currently being threatened. Aircraft have played a critical role in fighting this fire due to steep and inaccessibly terrain, according to InciWeb. Firefighters are now working to put out any hot spots they encounter and strengthening fire lines.

The Highway 200 Fire Complex includes the Readers Fire, Miller Fire, Moose Peak Fire and the Cub Fire on the Cabinet Ranger District on the Kootenai Forest and the Deep Creek and Sheep Gap Fires on the Plains-Thompson Falls Ranger District on the Lolo National Forest. A closure order is in place in the vicinity of the Reader and Cub fires. Pre-evacuation notices have been issued to some residents along the East Fisher Road.

The Red Cross opened a shelter Saturday at the Plains Alliance Church in Sanders County in response to Sheep Gap wildfire evacuations.

Lightning started the Sheep Gap fire, which is burning nine miles northwest of Plains and three miles southwest of Weeksville, just south of Highway 200. The fire has burned more than 2,200 acres.

The Lolo Peak Fire, located approximately 10 miles southwest of Lolo, is 31 percent contained as of Saturday at more than 41,000 acres. Mike Granger, section operations chief for the Northern Rockies incident management team, said he expects to see continued movement of the fire in the Lolo Creek area. He also noted that firefighting resources have diminished due to the number of fires in the region.

“The competition for those resources is extreme,” Granger said in a Saturday morning briefing.

In preparation for Sunday’s wind activity, Granger said they are preparing units in the Larry Creek drainage to burn out portions of the forest as a buffer. The interior of the blaze continues to burn and Granger said residents can expect to see plumes of smoke from that portion of the fire, which is largely inaccessible.

“(There’s) too much potential to have something go wrong with our firefighters,” he said.

The Western News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss may be reached at 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.