Wildland fires heat up in Lincoln County

Several lightning-caused wildland fires have erupted across Lincoln County during the past week, according to Wyatt Frampton, Libby Unit fire supervisor for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Frampton said six fires were reported Wednesday, with four of them being knocked down before they could pose any significant threat. The other two fires, he said, are more substantial.

The first fire is in the Dunn Creek area, north of Libby. Frampton said the fire, which was roughly 50 percent contained as of press time Thursday, involved approximately 60 acres. While the land is owned by Plum Creek, Frampton said, it falls within DNRC protection. A Type III incident team has been tasked with controlling the fire, which does not at this point pose significant danger to people or property.

“At this time, we don’t anticipate any evacuations,” Frampton said.

The second fire, on Weigel Mountain, is more substantial and a Type II incident team has been activated to combat it.

Wednesday evening Frampton said the Weigel fire had consumed about 10 acres of land. Reports early Thursday afternoon included estimates of up to 120 acres ablaze in the area. The Weigel fire, Frampton said, is predominantly on national forest land.

The difficulty with the Weigel fire is the surrounding terrain. Frampton said the department’s crews are coordinating with federal crews and local contractors to contain the blaze.

“We’re working closely with the Kootenai National Forest crews and with local contractors and utilizing appropriate resourcse and tactics to quickly suppress the fires in the area,” Frampton said.