Libby firefighters douse brushfire
(Derrick Perkins/The Western News)
Libby fire officials caught a lucky break Sept. 5.
That’s Assistant Chief Scott Beagle’s assessment of the small, but tempestuous brush fire on a Remps Road hillside.
Crews with the Libby Volunteer Fire Department descended upon the scene, accessible by both Remps and Kootenai River roads, about mid-afternoon. When they arrived, the flames extended six to eight feet into the sky, Beagle said.
“The wind was pushing it up,” he said.
But natural breaks and the presence of roads kept the blaze from spreading. It never grew larger than an acre, officials said. No homes were threatened by the fire, Beagle said.
About 10 Libby firefighters worked the scene with aid from local law enforcement — a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy helped move hoses around the scene — and the U.S. Forest Service. The fire department dispatched three tenders, the incident command vehicle and a wildland truck to the scene.
By 3:30 p.m., the fire largely was under control with firefighters mostly dousing hotspots. Meanwhile, local officials were preparing to turn the scene over to the Forest Service.
“We were lucky to be so close to town,” said Beagle. “Our biggest concern was it jumping the road. That was our first attack, there.”
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
