Forest Service reports fire season in full swing

The Kootenai National Forest has experienced nearly twice its annual average number of fires this year, according to Fire Management Officer Dan Rose. Local fire crews have responded to 38 fires since July 1.

Three fires in the Bobtail area near Libby were contained July 17. Rose said he wasn’t sure if the fires were accidental or intentional, but all three where human-caused.

“The fires were human caused,” he said. “I have no idea if they were intentional.”

Another human-caused fire was ignited the afternoon of Thursday, July 10, at River Road near Troy.

Rose said the Forest Service crews are all up and active and have so far been able to respond quickly enough to contain the fires before they get out of control.

“We’ve been able to get on things quickly,” he said. “Detection’s worked out really well, both with the public calling in fires and with our aerial detection.”

Rose said the Forest Service has a full complement of fire fighters on-staff now, as well as extra resources from surrounding areas.

“All of our local folks are on-board and here now,” he said. “That gives us about 100 people ready to go right now. We also have a helicopter rappel crew here from Gallatin and two heavy helicopters at the airport, in addition to ours. So we have some out-of-area resources available to us.”

Rose said the fires have been kept to average sizes for this time of year, despite the unusually large number of blazes. The largest fire, he said, consumed about five acres of forest.

“For July, that’s a pretty typical fire,” Rose said.

Rose said the Forest Service is monitoring the fire situation very closely. Although there isn’t much lightning in the immediate forecast, warm, dry weather means the danger of fire is still very high in the forest.

“There’s no real lightning in the forecast right now,” Rose said. “But the seasonal temperatures are going to stay. So, it’s fire season. It’s summer.”

Rose said the public’s involvement in fire detection this season has helped local fire responders prevent out-of-control wildfires.

“Folks seem to be really engaged and mindful of what’s going on,” he said. “People have been really good about it.”