Local, federal crews prevent pile fire from destroying local homes

Recent rains notwithstanding, the dry conditions of the many places in northwest Montana were on display Tuesday afternoon on Yellowtail Rpad in Em Kayan Village north of Libby.

An older man who spoke to The Western News had picked up his burn permit on Monday and prepared to burn a pile of debris that was about two years old.

“The fire was almost out, but then the wind kicked up and gave it life,” he said. “I was gonna get on my old tractor and put it out, but it spread to an old boat and then it got going some more.”

Fortunately the man reacted quickly and called 911. Two trucks and members from the Lincoln County Rural Fire District 1 were on the scene in short order followed soon after by a Kootenai National Forest team.

The fire spread behind and around one side of the man’s house, which had an attached garage. The fire climbed a pine tree next to the garage and lit some pine needles on the metal roof.

“My son had come down from Alaska last fall on helped me clean the needles off or it would have been a bigger pile,” the homeowner said. “But a few more needles had fallen since this winter.”

The man had a hose ready to go, but the fire’s rapid spread was too much to easily contain.

The volunteer firefighters heavily doused the burned areas as a nervous and grateful neighbor watched.

The man noted the fire danger was rated low, but he realized how the right combination of factors could turn a small burn into something much more.

Fire officials are already talking with major concern of what the local fire season could be like if more snow and rain don’t fall in the next several months.

Those recreating at lower elevations have noted how dry conditions are.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of Lincoln County is rated abnormally dry. The southern most part of the county is in moderate drought. 

Neighboring Flathead County, as well as Lake County, shares those ratings with sections in severe drought.

Sanders County is rated as either in moderate or severe drought while Mineral County is in a severe drought.

Flathead County had a 260-acre wild fire Sunday, March 31, near Kila in the Browns Meadow Road area south of its intersection with Smith Lake Road.

Fire crews from Smith Valley and West Valley along with state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation firefighters put the fire out. It was a spring burn that got out of control.

    Two firefighters from Lincoln County Rural Fire District 1 spray water on a hot spot from a small brush pile fire Tuesday afternoon in Em Kayan Village. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)