Three new fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Smoke filling the Flathead Valley this week is suspected to be coming from forest fires in Idaho and California. Big fires in Northwest Montana are not very active now. By Aug. 28, the Condon Mountain Fire in the Swan Valley was 50 percent contained, and the West Garceau Fire near Polson was 100 percent contained.

To view an interactive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) map that shows where smoke in the valley originated, visit online at www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm.

There currently are no fire restrictions on the Flathead National Forest, but the fire danger is considered high. Officials remind forest visitors to be very diligent with campfires and ensure they are dead-out before leaving them. This includes, but is not limited to, carefully monitoring any cooking activities, not tossing cigarettes on the ground and making sure vehicles and trailers are not dragging anything that could create sparks.

• Three new fires were detected in the Bob Marshall Wilderness this week. The largest is the lightning-caused Dart Creek Fire, which is burning in heavy timber near Big Salmon Creek. The fire was detected Aug. 29, and is currently staffed with 33 firefighters, two airplanes (scoopers), a medium and a heavy helicopter for bucket drops, and two light helicopters providing support.

Many of the resources were already on forest supporting the Condon Mountain Fire. The Big Salmon Creek trail remains open, but trail users should call the Spotted Bear Ranger District at 406-758-5376 for the latest information before heading out on the trail.

The Foolhen Fire on Moser Mountain was detected Aug. 28. It burned two acres and as of Aug. 30 is now controlled. Some of the resources that were on that fire are now on the Dart Creek Fire. The Basin Fire burned about one tenth of an acre near the Basin Creek Cabin and is now dead-out.

• Flathead National Forest firefighters responded to two separate abandoned camp fires that escaped their fire rings over the Aug. 25-26 weekend.

A camp fire in the Mission Mountain Wilderness escaped into nearby trees. Smokejumpers responded and put the fire dead-out. The second camp fire was at Berne Memorial Park, in Bad Rock Canyon along U.S. 2. A Forest Service engine responded and put the fire dead-out.

Both near misses are a reminder for all Forest users to use extreme caution with all flammable materials and make sure camp fires are dead out. Test camp fires by carefully feeling them with the back of a hand. If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave unattended.

• Thunderstorms on Aug. 21 ignited small fires across the Flathead National Forest. They included the tenth of an acre Nicola Creek Fire, about 16 miles northwest of Columbia Falls, contained and controlled; the tenth of an acre Sunday Creek Fire on Elk Mountain in the Tally Lake Ranger District, with a crew on scene; the two-tenths of an acre Ponderosa Fire on Spotted Bear Summit at the south end of the Hungry Horse Reservoir, contained and controlled; the tiny Smith Creek Fire in the Swan Lake Ranger District, dead out; and the tiny Blacktail Mountain Fire, south of Kalispell, dead out.

• Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Aug. 21 that Stage 1 fire restrictions went into effect at four state parks ion Flathead Lake - Big Arm, Finley Point, Yellow Bay and Wild Horse Island. No camp fires or open flames or smoking is allowed on Wild Horse Island, but propane and other camp stoves are allowed. At the other three state parks, camp fires are only allowed in designated steel fire grates, cooking is allowed using propane and other camp stoves, and smoking is restricted to enclosed vehicles or sites with at least three feet in diameter of cleared space.

• A number of wildfires on the Flathead National Forest ignited by lightning over the July 28-29 weekend settled down some after that, but new fires have been detected since then.

Cooler temperatures, cloud cover and high humidity apparently slowed the growth of these wildfires in past weeks, but the weather turned hot and windy more recently. There have also been additional lightning-caused and human-caused fires.

• Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks issued an emergency order on Aug. 20 closing Lindbergh Lake to public access while air tankers took water from the lake to fight the nearby Condon Mountain Fire. The closure was expected to last two days.

The Condon Mountain Fire started out as the Union Peak Fire. It was first spotted July 30 at half an acre in size about four miles northeast of Condon.

The Condon fire simmered for a while before rapidly growing. It was burning on 196 acres by Aug. 9 on steep rocky terrain and moving into the Simpson Creek and Dog Creek drainages.

The fire had grown to 283 acres by Aug. 10 as it burned into the Dog Creek drainage. It expanded to 1,502 acres by Aug. 21 and was 20 percent contained. Crews were trying to use backfires to reduce fuel loading in front of the main fire line.

A little precipitation helped on Aug. 15, and crews took advantage of the wetter conditions to improved containment lines. As of Aug. 15, the fire had not escaped indirect containment lines, including a bank of high rocky cliffs on the fire's east flank.

Crews did an aerial ignition on the south flank on Thursday, Aug. 16, around 4:30 p.m. The weather is expected to become hotter and drier by the weekend with predicted highs in the low 90s on the valley floor. As a result, fire behavior is expected to return to pre-storm intensities. Fire managers will adjust their strategies as the conditions change.

All told, 137 people were assigned to the fire by Aug. 17, including two helicopters, a helitack module, a helitorch module, six engine crews, a water tender, two 20-person hand crews, one 10-person crew were on hand and a 20-person management team.

By Aug. 28, the fire was 50 percent contained, had burned 1,705 acres and had 86 people on the scene.

Forest Trail 29, the Smith-Little Salmon Lake Trail, was closed to backcountry travelers.

As of Aug. 30, the Condon Mountain Fire was being managed by local resources with a Type 4 incident commander overseeing operations. A medium helicopter, a 10 person hand crew and two engines remained on the scene. Inciweb will not be updated for this incident unless conditions change.

• The West Garceau Fire, about 5-6 miles southwest of Big Arm in Lake County, was first detected about 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 13. By Wednesday morning, the fire had grown to 5,000 acres, fanned by high winds. By the end of the day it had covered 9,700 acres before slowing down considerably.

The fire, which began in grasslands and sagebrush on private land and then moved into timber before burning back into grasslands, prompted the evacuation of 15 people from two homes in the Irvine Flats area along with some livestock. A Type 2 management team is expected to take over firefighting efforts today.

Firefighters from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes joined crews from the Polson and Hot Springs fire departments to fight the fire. Aerial support included two heavy helicopters, three heavy air tankers and two single-engine air tankers.

By Aug. 28, the fire had covered 9,863 acres and was 100 percent contained. A total of 297 people were still on the scene. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

• A state helicopter responded quickly to a wind-driven fire on Farm-To-Market Road in the West Valley area north of Kalispell on Tuesday, Aug. 14, that started about 2 p.m. The cause of the 10 acre fire was yet to be determined. The helicopter made dozens of water drops on the fire, which burned in timber and brush not too far from several houses and farm buildings.

• A small human-caused fire was detected Saturday, Aug. 11, in the Canyon Creek drainage, about five miles north of Columbia Falls in the North Fork area. The fire was quickly contained and controlled.

• The Gorge Fire was detected Aug. 6 about 13 miles southeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. The 1.5-acre lightning-caused fire was burning subalpine fir and white bark pine on the top of a ridge between Gorge Creek and Cannon Creek in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

It had been creeping and smoldering with occasional tree torching, but by Aug. 9 it was contained and in mop-up stage. Two helicopters were making bucket drops and 16 personnel were assigned to the fire. There were no trail closures.

• The Elk Mountain Fire was detected on Aug. 7 in the Tally Lake Ranger District north of Whitefish. The quarter-acre fire was burning at the upper end of Good Creek near Murphy Lake. An eight-person crew and one engine was assigned to the fire. There were no trail closures announced. The  fire was fully contained and controlled by Aug. 9.

• The Burnt Creek Fire was detected on Aug. 4 about four miles northwest of the Big Prairie Work Center in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. As of Aug. 8, the quarter-acre fire was under control, and the fire crew had moved on.

• The Elbow Pass Complex is comprised of four different lightning ignitions from July 12 through July 31. These are Triple Divide Fire, Rapid Creek Fire, Elbow Pass Fire, and Bar Fire. The fire is located 25 miles west southwest of Augusta, Montana, in inaccessible terrain in heavy fuels.

In total, the Elbow Pass Complex had burned across 19,712 acres by Aug. 21 and it continued smoldering in surface fuels and litter duff layers. Fifty-three people were assigned to the fire at one point, but the number had declined to 26 by Aug. 21.

While its growth potential was rated low, the strategy continues to be providing initial attack as requested and continue structure protection and visitor contacts at Danaher, Basin, Welcome Creek, Pretty Prairie Cabins, and the Benchmark Trailhead.

• The Rapid Creek Fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness was about one quarter of an acre when first spotted on Sunday, July 29, but it quickly grew in size with wind, topography and available fuels. Smoke from the Rapid Creek Fire was visible from the Flathead Valley over the weekend as it climbed toward the Continental Divide.

By Monday afternoon, July 30, it had joined the Elbow Pass Fire and, along with the nearby Triple Divide Fire, became the Elbow Pass Complex. Altogether, the three fires covered 17,454 acres by Aug. 10.

On Aug. 1, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation order for the Benchmark Road corridor. About 124 people were assigned to the Elbow Pass Fire Complex. Three helicopters worked into the evening dropping water on fire spots along the east slope of the Wood Creek Hogback and Patrol Ridge.

On Aug. 2, aircraft assessed the feasibility of placing crews in those areas to continue working on hot spots, hoping to keep the fire from moving further into the Benchmark corridor. Crews were doing mop-up work in the vicinity of the Green Fork Cabin and evaluating protection needs for the Welcome Creek Cabin.

Some trails in the area of the fire were closed, including Rapid Creek Trail No. 139 and Observation Pass Trail No. 246.

• The Bar Creek Fire, first detected on July 31, has been added to the Elbow Pass Complex. That fire had grown to about 250 acres before the Elbow Pass Complex crew took it over.

Structure protection measures for the Bar Creek Fire, including wrapping cabins with fire-resistant material and placing sprinklers around cabins, was underway to protect the Danaher and Basin administrative cabins. Three personnel were assigned to Danaher Cabin and four were at the Basin Cabin. Bar Creek Trail No. 140 was closed to Observation Point.

• The Prisoner Lake Fire was first detected on Monday, July 30, in the Bob Marshall Wilderness northwest of the Rapid Creek Fire. About 25 miles east of Condon, the lightning-caused fire was estimated to cover 175 acres.

The fire grew to 3,943 acres by Aug. 9 and to 4,080 acres by Aug. 12. The fire hasn't grown since then but continues to smolder and creep through thick brush above Molly Creek. Moisture on Aug. 15 and cooler temperatures helped to decrease fire activity. Very little smoke was observed by aerial recon on Aug. 16.

Crews wrapped an administrative cabin on Indian Point. The Prisoner Lake Fire was burning in very steep and rocky terrain at high elevations, and natural barriers were helping to contain it.

Trails closed due to the Prisoner Lake Fire include Trail 138 Molly Creek Trail, from the junction with the White River Trail 112 to White River Pass; Trail #380 South Fork of White River, from the junction with Trail 138 to its end; Trail 626 Haystack Mountain, from the junction with Trail 138 to Haystack Mountain; and Trail 211 Indian Creek, from White River Pass to the junction with Trail 203, West Fork of the South Fork Sun River.

Two helicopters were dropping water, and three 20-man hand crews with some heavy equipment were at the site building fire lines A Type 3 incident command was established at the Condon Work Center. The Smith-Little Salmon Trail No. 29 was closed in parts.

• The Pentagon Fire, about 14 miles east of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, grew to three acres, and 13 firefighters were assigned to initial attack with helicopter support. As of Aug. 5, the fire was in mop-up phase and was considered contained.

• Gunsight Rock Fire was a spot fire first detected on Aug. 1 about 12 miles northeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. By Aug. 5, it was fully contained and controlled.

For more information on fires, visit online at http://inciweb.org. For more information about trail closures, visit online at www.fs.usda.gov/detail/flathead/news-events/?cid=STELPRDB5383372.