Skyland Fire races out to prairie
A burnout operation torches trees along U.S. Highway 2 last week. More exclusive photos of the fire spreading onto Blackfeet lands are on page A5.<br>Chris Peterson photo
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
The Skyland Fire raced from the mountains into the prairie last week, crossing the Heart Butte Cutoff Road last Friday, where it continues to cause problems with ranchers’ stock and threatens homes in the area.
Even so, no major structures have been lost, though there are concerns about its impacts to wildlife habitat near the South Fork of the Two Medicine River. That area is coveted range for game. The fire did burn down two outbuildings. The cost of fighting the lightning-caused blaze is about $5.4 million, said fire information officer Dale Warriner.
Glacier National Park remains open, save for a few trails at Marias Pass that are closed because of fire danger. Tuesday saw windy conditions, but it was also damp with a little rain. Rain fell more heavily in Columbia Falls and West Glacier.
On Monday the fire made another run, crossing BIA Road No. 2, though no structures were lost and no evacuations took place.
Homes most seriously threatened by the blaze are to the north of the Two Medicine River on the Heart Butte Cutoff Road.
Firefighters lined up in rows along the Heart Butte Road on Friday as winds as high as 40 mph drove the fire directly toward them. But the flames hit stands of aspens that simply burned too hot to put out and firefighters had to retreat.
Meanwhile, ranchers herded up cattle and drove them out of areas that were on fire.
Crews have done burnout operations in front of the fire to try to stop its flow further onto Blackfeet lands. They also put down 35,000 gallons of retardant over the weekend to try to reinforce lines. Firefighters don’t expect the fire to go north into Glacier. Last week they cut a line in the trees on the south end of U.S. Highway 2 and then did burnouts near the line. A burnout is a fire in front of the main fire. The idea is that when the fire reaches the “burned out” area, it stops.
In many cases, burnouts are very effective in stopping fires.
The fire as of press time was 19 miles long and from one to three miles wide and goes from Mule Ridge west of the Skyland Road to Deep Creek on the Blackfeet reservation. The fire at Deep Creek is cold and has stopped in the grasslands. The fire is about 33,000 acres.
Fighting the fire on the grasslands should be a little easier than in the trees, public information officer Bruce Miller said, because the grass is relatively short — about six inches high. Grass that short is relatively easy to put out.
Folks living near the northeast end of the fire are told to be ready to evacuate, but no orders to evacuate have been given as of press time. Glacier Park has seen about 10 fire starts in recent weeks, but none of them have amounted to anything.
The Washington team headed up by incident commander Dave LaFave was set to hand over management of the fire to a Pacific Northwest team on Wednesday — led by incident commander Jeff Pendleton.