Evacuation warnings lifted for Apgar, West Glacier, though fire activity could pick up a bit Saturday, Sunday

The evacuation warning for Apgar, West Glacier and Moose City was lifted Saturday morning, though as skies clear and things dry out, people should be prepared to see more fire activity in the next couple of days over the Sprague Fire.

In a meeting Friday night, Sprague Creek incident commander John Thompson said the fire has about a 50-50 chance of reaching the Going-to-the-Sun Road where it’s burning on the flank of Mount Brown. The fire, at its closest, is about a quarter mile away from the road.

The National Weather Service predicted rain and snow on the fire earlier this week, but it never materialized. The rains stayed to the east and the south. Some fires south of here saw several inches of snow.

While the Glacier National Park fires remain dry, the fire itself has been creeping on the ground on the west flank, as it burns through dead limbs and duff. It’s also burning to the southwest as well.

Fire analyst Bruce Giersdorf said this weekend’s weather, with highs in the 50s and 60s will support fire growth, even with humidity about 30 percent. He said the fuels are just so dry, they want to burn. If a tree torches, they’re seeing 80 percent of the embers starting new fires.

“This year, being as dry as it is, it just keeps going from stick to stick,” he said.

The ground fire isn’t all bad. In the cedars and hemlocks it cleans up the dead fuels and most trees, as long as a dead stump or log doesn’t burn right next to the tree, will survive, he noted. He said the cedar-hemlock forest, which dominates the lower stretches of Snyder Ridge and Mount Brown, would like see tree mortality in the 10 to 20 percent range overall.

The forest makes it difficult to fight from above, Thompson noted. The canopy is so tight aerial water drops don’t always make it to the forest floor.

Though rain isn’t expected until Monday, Thompson said the weather still might help Sunday morning, when fog could set up, which in itself is 100 percent humidity. Winds will be from the southwest, which will at least blow the smoke out of the area. Apgar has been choked with smoke the past few days.

Meanwhile, cold is another challenge. Crews will start breaking down some hoselines and sprinklers as temperatures are expected to drop into the high 20s overnight.

They want to get them out before they freeze.

The “rain for rent” system of sprinklers will also be taken apart and drained. Thompson said they can’t run it continuously anyway. It puts out so much water it softens the soils, which could lead to trees toppling over. Also, the water is spraying on buildings that aren’t weather sealed, and there’s worry about water damage.

Thompson said an engine is stationed at Lake McDonald Lodge at night. He said if fire managers thought there was a threat, they’d put more personnel there, but right now, that’s not the case.

“If I thought there was a threat we’d have it well-staffed and have them in place,” Thompson said.

Thompson has seen some extreme fire behavior this summer. He was on the massive Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake and the Sapphire Complex near Hamilton earlier this year and the fire behavior has been like no other.

He said firefighters who’ve been on fires for 50 years have never seen fire behavior like this.

“We’re seeing things we’ve never seen collectively in our careers,” he said.

He said the main goal was to make sure everyone, firefighters and the public, got out safe.

Giersdorf predicted that a season ending event would mean about an inch of rain, and then another inch or more of rain a few days later to put the fire out.

That might not fully come until mid October, he said.

The area around the north end of Lake McDonald remains evacuated and closed to the public. The west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road remains closed as well.

Most of Glacier is open, and backcountry camping south of the Sun Road has reopened as well. Logan Pass, however, was closed because of ice on the road. If it warms up enough to melt the ice, the Park will reopen it from the east side to the pass.