Fire crews pounce on dozens of wildland starts

Sunday evening’s widespread thunderstorms left firefighters scrambling on Labor Day with dozens of blazes all over the southern half of the county.

The response, by most credible accounts, was impressive.

What had been a relatively wet summer turned bone dry and hot in August, creating conditions ripe for wild fire.

Things began Aug. 21 when the Ransome Fire was detected. Burning in steep terrain, accompanied by countless snags, on the old burn of the 2017 West Fork Fire that, along with back burns, roasted more than 20,000 acres northwest of Libby, left many residents in the Quartz Creek, Bobtail and Pipe Creek areas nervous.

But fire crews have line around the fire that is now listed at 650 acres and 23% contained. The crews have worked through a heat advisory as temperatures have exceeded 100 degrees. 

Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Chad Benson spoke about the dozens of fires that crews have responded to since last weekend.

“We’ve had 40 fires in the last week, 32 on Forest Service land, but the crews have really worked hard to get lines around the vast majority of them while working in extreme conditions of heat, steep terrain and down and dead trees,” he said. “We also had a lot of replanting in the Ransome Creek area by Stimson (Lumber Co.) following the West Fork Fire and we don’t want to lose all of that work and money.”

Air quality has plummeted with smoke from fires in the region to the Idaho Panhandle. While air quality data from Montana Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t available, one could easily observe the haze that enveloped the area during the middle of this week.

A few fires were reported between Aug. 23-26, but on Aug. 29-30, the frequency of starts increased with seven as a weather system brought lightning, but little rain, as area football teams kicked off Friday. Two were quickly extinguished while four others were under control and one contained.

But following the thunderstorms on Labor Day’s Eve, Sunday, Aug. 31, all hell broke loose.

According to online reports, there were 30 starts between Sunday and Monday evening, a period of little more than 24 hours. As of Wednesday evening, 10 were listed as out, six under control and five contained.

Most never reached one acre. The Brush Mountain Fire was initially listed at five acres before a more accurate size-up put it at 1.5 acres. It is listed as controlled.

Kootenai National Forest fire officials reminded the public that some fires occurred in steep terrain with heavy fuel loading with little to no road access. 

Smoke from the Isabella, Moran, and Lost Girl Fires on the Cabinet Ranger District are visible along the Highway 56 corridor. The fires occurred in steep terrain with heavy fuel loading with little to no road access.

Resources responding in these remote areas included smokejumpers, hotshot crews, rappelers, local modules and aerial resources. Suppression tactics were based on several safety concerns, including a lack of ingress and egress options that would result in unacceptable medevac times. Decisions are heavily based on firefighter safety and resources at risk. Resources continue to assess for opportunities for direct and indirect options.

A Temporary Flight Restriction remains in place that restricts all aircraft (including drones) from operating in fire areas without permission. 

Those flying drones or recreational craft impedes fire fighting aircraft in their attempts to extinguish fires. 

Road closures remain in effect for both the Ransome and South Meadow fires. A closure order will be in effect soon on both the Idaho Panhandle and Kootenai National Forests for the Ulm fire.

To view the full closure orders, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/kootenai/alerts.

Some fires burning in North Idaho have made it into the Kootenai National Forest.

The Ulm Creek Fire, listed at 1,800 acres with no containment as of Wednesday night, is located on the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, about six miles north of Little Guard Peak and approximately five miles east of Spion Kop. The fire is now also burning on the Kootenai National Forest on the Cabinet Ranger District. 

It originated on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests Aug. 30 but is now burning on both the IPNF and Kootenai National Forest, specifically in the Ulm Peak Fire scar from 2006. The fire actively grew over the last few days, burning in remote terrain. Multiple aircraft including a Type 1 helicopter worked the fire Wednesday. More than 62 firefighters in addition to several pieces of heavy equipment have been assigned to it. A Type 3 Incident Management Team was expected to take command of the fire Wednesday evening. 

Also, the Gem Peak Lookout on the Cabinet Ranger District is now closed as it falls within the pending closure order area for the Ulm Fire and all reservations have been cancelled. Anyone with future reservations has been or will be notified. 

For further questions, please call the Cabinet Ranger District at 406-827-3533.

For more information on the Ulm Fire, please visit https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/inciden.../idipf-ulm-creek-fire

Rattle Mountain Fire

The Rattle Fire originated on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests and is burning there and Kootenai National Forest border on the Three Rivers Ranger District. 

A Type 3 Incident Management Team is mobilizing to take command of the fire, listed at 50 acres and no containment. The team will also oversee the Spruce and Spruce Ridge Fires, two smaller, lightning caused fires burning on the Three Rivers Ranger District in proximity to the Rattle Fire. A better update on the Rattle and Spruce Fires is forthcoming. 

The Rattle Fire is accessible from the Keeler Creek area and is visible from Troy and surrounding areas. Officials are asking people to avoid the area.

According to the National Weather Service, conditions are expected to moderate a bit in the region over the next several days with high temperatures between 89 and 94 through Sunday.

There is a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms Sunday night and a chance of rain Sunday night and Monday night.

Tuesday, forecasters say rain is likely and temperatures are expected to be in the upper 70s through the middle of the week.