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U.S. Forest Service firefighters prepare to extinguish a tree that flared up just north of milemarker 4 on Highway 37 Friday afternoon. The crew was in the area monitoring the slope where the Highway 37 fire began Thursday afternoon. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
A U.S. Forest Service firefighter douses a burning log that rolled down a slope near milemarker 4 along Highway 37 Friday afternoon. The slope is where the Highway 37 fire began Thursday afternoon. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
A Libby Volunteer Fire Department water tender and fire engine stand ready near milemarker 4 on Highway 37 Friday afternoon. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Following an initial attack with heavy air support Thursday evening, efforts to combat the Highway 37 fire north of Libby resumed Friday, as resources continued to arrive and officials estimated its size at 40-60 acres.
“We don’t have anything contained or controlled at this point,” Libby District Ranger Nate Gassmann said Friday morning. “We’re not all the way around the fire to really get a solid number [on its size].”
The fire was reported on the north side of Highway 37, roughly four miles northwest of Libby, about 4 p.m. Thursday. Fueled by grass, shrubs and timber, the fire grew quickly to 30 acres.
Highway 37, closed for a few hours Thursday, was expected to remain open Friday, but restricted to one lane of travel for about one mile north of milemarker 4.
The restriction would be in place during firefighting operations until 5 p.m. Sunday, Lincoln County Under Sheriff Brian Griffeth said.
Operations started Friday with about the same resources as the previous night: 30 firefighters on the ground, a handful of dozers and skidgens to help build containment lines, and at least four helicopters to resume water drops, Gassmann said.
“We’re looking to cycle the helicopters and use them as efficiently as we can,” he said. “And if we need other support, the incident commander will be asking for it.”
Additional air resources are available, “but we haven’t quite reached that point yet (today) for knowing where we’re going to put them,” Gassmann said.
The Forest Service also planned to lay hose Friday to control hot spots.
Air support Thursday night included a so-called very large air tanker and other planes that dropped retardant. The tactic doesn’t provide a “hard line” of containment, but buys time for ground crews “to get in and start cutting in the line, those sorts of things,” Gassmann said.
Last night’s repeated water and retardant drops “did a great job in keeping the fire in check,” he said, adding that “line construction went fairly well yesterday.”
Gassmann said that as logistics kick into gear, “there’s all sorts of things that we’re starting to get [for] more support as we extend this attack.”
“I think we have everyone’s attention as far as the availability [of resources],” he said.
In addition to restricting travel for the one mile of Highway 37, authorities on Friday asked people to stay off the Kootenai River from Osprey Landing to the Highway 37 bridge in Libby so helicopters could refill safely.
The fire’s proximity to Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines and the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine are a concern, Gassmann said, but Friday morning the fire hadn’t progressed closer than the night before.
The former mine is inside Operating Unit 3 of the Libby Asbestos Superfund site and requires a special firefighting response to protect against the risk of exposure to asbestos that could be disturbed during firefighting. Gassmann said the fire was about 1.5 miles from the site Friday morning.
Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Bonneville Power Administration did not respond to requests for comment.
The weather Friday morning was “not quite as hot as yesterday,” Gassmann said, though winds were expected to pick up by the afternoon with the approach of a dry cold front.
Forest Service spokesperson Willie Sykes said by email that temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-80s and winds at 6-10 miles per hour, gusting to 30 miles per hour along the ridge tops.
There is no estimated containment date and no structures are threatened at this time, he wrote.