Evacuations ordered; Going-to-the-Sun section closed

Glacier National Park has closed the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the south end of Lake McDonald to Logan Pass and ordered an evacuation of residences, buildings and campgrounds around the lake due to the Sprague Fire. The evacuation order went into effect at 6 p.m. Sunday.

“The fire is now very close to the Mt. Brown Lookout, which is a priority value at risk and is wrapped with protective material,” park officials said in a press release.

A helicopter worked on Saturday to cool the area surrounding the lookout. Other threatened values include backcountry cabins and campgrounds, structures in the Lake McDonald area, and trail infrastructure such as footbridges.

The closure includes the Lake McDonald Lodge, Kelly Camp, concessions housing and the Avalanche and Sprague Creek campgrounds. The closure is due to fire traffic in the area and was recommended by the overhead management team fighting the blaze.

The American Red Cross is offering shelter for those impacted by the evacuation at the Canyon Elementary School, 200 N. St., in Hungry Horse. Call 1-800-272-6668 for information about shelter services.

Structure protection work is continuing in the Lake McDonald Lodge area. The Fort Apache Hotshots are working to install hose lays, sprinklers, and pumps as contingency measures given the predicted east winds. Historic artifacts are being removed from the Lake McDonald Lodge today.

The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning effective through 9 p.m. Monday. According to the press release issued by the park, “The approaching cold front is a marker of extreme fire behavior. The predicted high winds from the east this evening could increase activity on the west side of the Sprague Fire. Continued low humidity and warm temperatures are also expected. Based on fire activity and behavior last night across the region, it is in everyone’s best interest to evacuate the area so firefighters can most effectively and efficiently fight the fire.”

Logan Pass is open from the east side of the Divide.

The Sprague Fire is burning above Crystal Ford on the Gunsight Pass Trail and has grown to more than 6,833 acres, burning the mountains and woods just above Lake McDonald Lodge. At press time on Sunday night, it was being listed at 35 percent containment.

The fire on Thursday burned down the Sperry Chalet. Warm and dry conditions allowed the fire to spread into the Lincoln Creek drainage Saturday night. The fuels in the fire area are extremely dry and receptive to fire.

Most of Glacier remains open, including Apgar Village, though the Park was swamped Sunday with smoke from fires not just in Glacier, but from across Montana and the western U.S. The Park couldn’t say when the Sun Road from the west side would reopen.

Firefighters put down hose lays at Lake McDonald Lodge yesterday and structure protection fire engines were also put in place.

ABOUT 200 people attended a Sunday afternoon meeting in the Libby High School gymnasium where officials discussed the status of three wildfires — Caribou, West Fork and Moose Creek — burning in Lincoln County.

“We have not seen conditions like these in almost 50 years,” said Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Chris Savage, citing the dryness of fuels and uncommonly late-in-the-season fire activity.

Discussing the potential of the West Fork fire, which had grown to 800 acres by Sunday night, Dan Rose, the Kootenai National Forest’s fire management officer said “we have to think big.”

“We have the potential to see fire behavior as we have seen in the Caribou fire,” he said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has issued a mandatory evacuation for residents in the 17 Mile community area of Pipe Creek Road in response to the West Fork Fire. Pipe Creek Road is now closed from mile marker 12 to the summit.

The pre-evacuation warning remains in effect for the upper end of Bobtail Road north of Bobtail Cutoff, Hutton Drive, Bobtail Cutoff including Winter Road and Whitetail Road, Pipe Creek Road from Forest Way including Lodge Pole Road, Blue Mountain Lookout Road and Doak Creek Road.

Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe shared his office’s expectations for pre-evacuation notices and evacuations orders. The purpose of the former, he said, is to prepare to “be ready to go in under an hour” if an evacuation is ordered.

Bowe said over the past couple days the Sheriff’s Office ran into problems in the Caribou fire area where “not enough people took us seriously” when given pre-evacuation notices. As a result, some evacuations were so last-minute that “houses were burning 10 to 15 minutes after” people left.

“When we tell people to get ready, we mean get ready,” Bowe said.

Toward the end of the public meeting, Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Peck praised the “fantastic” coordination among the various agencies and said that an emergency operations center was being activated in the city building by the Ponderosa Room and expected to be online Monday “to make sure to keep you as informed as possible.”

From Saturday to Sunday, the Caribou fire doubled in size to almost 14,000 acres. It moved 8 miles in two and a half days, Rose said, and has caused evacuations and destroyed an unknown amount of structures.

An informational meeting for the Gibralter and Caribou fires will be held on Monday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Eureka High School Auditorium. Representatives from the Forest Service, Incident Management Team, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Border Patrol, Red Cross and Emergency Management will all be present to provide information on both fires.

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 Sheep Gap and Reader fires are top priority for crews due to risk to property. The Sheep Gap Fire, at 4,706 acres, is threatening approximately 70 residences, which have been notified of mandatory evacuations by the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office. Firefighters are continuing to check for and secure spot fires on the northern edge of the fire. They are also working to put structure protection measures in place and establish contingency fire line where possible. Aerial resources will be assisting firefighters on the ground to slow fire spread and suppress any spot fires caused by wind-driven embers.

The Reader and Reader 2 fires, 139 acres, are being managed conjointly due to their close proximity. Firefighters are working to establish fire line around these two fires and hold the fire line already developed. Wind along the ridgetops will continue to challenge firefighting efforts.

East of Plains, mandatory evacuations are in place from the end of River Road West to Arnold Road, at the corner of Section 11. All residents in the Plains and Trout Creek areas should note that conditions are dynamic and will likely change quickly over the next few days. As these fires progress, pre-evacuation warnings are being issued to some residents in the areas of White Pine, Beaver Creek and Little Beaver. All residents are being asked to have an evacuation plan in place now and know what you would do in the event of an emergency.

SEVEN FIRES are currently burning in the Spotted Bear Ranger District on the Flathead National Forest and district officials have closed trails for public safety. The fires are burning in the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness Areas. Significant stretches of the Continental Divide Trail are affected by the fires and trail closures.

“Safety for the public is my main concern when closing trails; however there are many areas still open for backcountry use and camping,” said Spotted Bear District Ranger Gordon Ash in a press release.

The fires being managed by the Spotted Bear Ranger District include:

- The Strawberry Fire, located 2 miles north of Sabido Cabin, between Strawberry Creek and East Fork Strawberry Creek Upper Middle Fork in the Great Bear Wilderness, has grown to 747 acres.

- The Scalp Fire, located 3 miles south of Gooseberry Cabin on Bow Mountain Upper Middle Fork, Great Bear Wilderness, has grown to 4,678 acres.

- The Dolly Varden Fire, located at Dolly Varden Creek/Chair Mountain in the Upper Middle Fork, Great Bear Wilderness, has grown to 185 acres.

- The Soakem Fire, located in the upper Minor Creek drainage in the Upper Middle Fork, Great Bear Wilderness, as of Sept. 1 has burned 1.5 acres.

- The Reef Fire, near Count Peak and Youngs Creek drainage in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, is now 2,515 acres.

- The Monahan Fire, located in the Danaher Creek drainage, Bob Marshall Wilderness, is now 2,523 acres.

- The Rice Ridge Fire, 1.4 miles northeast of Seeley Lake, grew unexpectedly from approximately 40,000 acres to about 55,000 acres Sunday. As a result, evacuation orders and warnings have been issued in Powell County. The evacuation order affects all of Coopers Lake area. The warning area is everything else north of Highway 200 with the west and east boundaries being Missoula and Lewis and Clark County.

Closures are in effect for the Horseshoe Hills area, the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, and surrounding Montana DNRC and BLM lands. Big Larch Campground, Big Larch boat launch, Seeley Lake Campground boat launch, Canoe Trail and Seeley Lake waters are closed due to aerial operations related to Rice Ridge Fire suppression efforts.

There are several trail closures on the Lewis and Clark National Forest, Rocky Mountain Ranger District also associated with the Scalp Fire, and the Crucifixion Fire in the Badger-Two Medicine area as well.

For a map of all the trail closures within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, visit the Flathead National Forest webpage at https://go.usa.gov/xRHrA.

Contact the Spotted Bear Ranger District at 406-758-5376 for current fire information and restrictions on backcountry use.

FOR MORE information on these and all active fires in Montana, as well as current evacuation orders, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/27/0/.

For information about shelters available to evacuated residents, visit https://www.facebook.com/MontanaRedCross/.

The Western News and Hungry Horse News contributed to this report.