RV starts North Fork wildfire; under control now

A RV caught fire along the North Fork Road Wednesday and started a wildfire of about 3.6 acres near Big Creek.

No one was injured, but the RV was completely destroyed. Columbia Falls and Blankenship responded to the fire with Type 5 engines about 3:44 p.m.

The Forest Service also responded with about three engines— as well as three helicopters and two Super Scooper aircraft, Columbia Falls Fire Chief Karl Weeks said.

The scoopers made one drop apiece, but then left because there was no place easily scoop up water that was close by. The scoopers are airplanes that scoop water off of lakes.

“It would have gotten away without the aircraft,” Weeks said, as the blaze quickly moved upslope.

Forest Service firefighters were still mopping up hotspots Thursday morning. The area has been thinned so the aircraft were effective in getting the fire out as it was in finer, smaller fuels, Weeks noted.

The North Fork Road in that area was closed for several hours as crews fought the blaze.

It has since reopened.

It was undetermined what caused the RV fire, Weeks said.