Copper King Fire doubles in size overnight

Under the red-flag alert, the Copper King Fire near Thompson Falls has quadrupled in size since the beginning of the month, and doubled in size since Sunday after a night of heavy winds.

By Monday afternoon, the blaze had grown to 6,908 acres — twice the acreage reported on Sunday. The fire started on July 31 and the cause of the fire is still undetermined, but it is highly suspected to be human, according to Lolo National Forest Public Information Officer John Hamilton.

According to Hamilton, several dozen people are under pre-evacuation notice. Sunday, two homes were evacuated but the homeowners were allowed to return Monday. On Sunday night, crews also evacuated people from the Mud Creek area. Only minor injuries have been reported as of yesterday afternoon, with no houses destroyed as of yet.

More than $8.2 million has been spent so far on the terrain and wind-driven fire eight miles from Thompson Falls, according to the Lolo National Forest.

On Aug. 3, the fire was reportedly burning 1,286 acres and it was estimated at 3,400 acres on Sunday. Now according to Hamilton, the fire has doubled at 6,908 acres with a 30 percent containment. Although, Hamilton suspects that the fire is much larger and the containment is less than the estimations.

The Type III team will be upgraded to a Type I team today. As of yesterday afternoon, Type III incident team had 317 personnel, 14 engines, seven helicopters, eight 20-person crews, seven water-tenders and numerous pieces of heavy-equipment on the fire. The amount of resources and personnel is will increase with the Type I team, who Hamilton said will have the resources to better handle the logistics, planning and operations involved in the fire. 

Several roads have been closed, including Road 911 and the Forest Road 56. There are a lot of road closure reports in the coming days, said Hamilton.

 Reporter Bethany Rolfson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at Reporter@TheWesternNews.com.