Libby wildfire consumes 30 acres by Thursday evening
Libby volunteer firefighters Scott Beagle, left, and Zach Weed work a quick-moving fire on the north side of Route 37 near the 4 mile marker Thursday afternoon. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
A U.S. Forest Service fire crew waits to attack a fire on the north side of Route 37 near the 4 mile marker Thursday afternoon. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
The first two helicopters assigned to a wildfire north of Libby draw water from the Kootenai River Thursday evening. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
A wildfire four miles northwest of Libby reached 30 acres in less than three hours Thursday afternoon, potentially threatening power transmission lines and requiring the precautionary deployment of a specially trained and equipped firefighting team as the fire moved to within 1.5 miles of a former vermiculite mine.
Firefighters from Libby Volunteer Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service fought the blaze from the ground, while about half a dozen helicopters and planes, including a so-called very large air tanker, dropped water and retardant from the sky, Libby District Ranger Nate Gassmann reported at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We’re giving it everything we have,” he said, noting that additional resources, including a 20-person hotshot crew, were on order and expected later in the evening or by Friday morning.
The fire, reported on the north side of Route 37 about 4 p.m., “saw significant growth” in its first half hour, Gassmann said.
Fueled by grass, shrubs and timber, the fire raced up a steep slope across from an enclave of homes along the Kootenai River. Libby volunteer firefighters stationed water tenders at intervals and sprayed the burning ground from the roadside, with Second Assistant Chief Scott Beagle occasionally scrambling up the hillside with a hose in pursuit of flames.
They were soon joined by a Forest Service handcrew and the first two helicopters, which drew water from the river to douse the fire’s advancing edge.
At first, law enforcement personnel from Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Montana Highway Patrol allowed one lane of traffic at a time to pass, but as onlookers began to gather they eventually closed the highway.
No injuries were reported and no structures were threatened at 6:30 p.m., but Gassmann said the northwest expansion of the fire was a concern because it could threaten the Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines from Libby Dam.
In addition to aircraft and ground crews, Gassmann said heavy dozers and skidgens — a more nimble tracked vehicle with a smaller blade — had also been assigned to the fire.
It was too soon to know what caused the fire, he said, and he didn’t yet know what the overnight plan was.
Among the ground crews was a 10-person team trained to respond to fires within Operating Unit 3 of the Libby Asbestos Superfund site, which contains the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine. Gassmann said the team is equipped with respirators and trained in methods to protect against the risk of exposure to asbestos that could be disturbed during the course of fighting a fire.
However, Gassmann stressed that as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, neither the team nor the fire were inside the Superfund unit, and that the team was being used as a resource as needed.