Game wardens rescue dozen bears from fire
HELENA – Two game wardens helped save a dozen bears at a state wildlife shelter from a fire that burned about 40 acres on the west edge of the city, destroying two vacant houses and three garages.
Dave Loewen and Kevin Cook were patrolling the Spring Meadow Lake area Sunday afternoon when they saw a large cloud of smoke, followed by flames.
“In a matter of two minutes, it was already out of control and moving toward the wildlife center,” Loewen told the Independent Record in a story published Tuesday.
The Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation Center was home to a dozen bears Sunday. When the two Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens entered the center’s compound at about 2 p.m., they found another 10 or so smaller fires burning. The complex itself was surrounded by flames.
A few of the bears’ wooden beds were on fire within their dens.
The men released the bears into a large outdoor enclosure and the bears jumped into their pools of water. Then, Cook and Loewen fought the blaze with shovels and rakes.
“We could barely keep up because the wind was so bad. We just wanted to keep those bears safe,” Loewen said.
Meanwhile, volunteers from the center came to help, along with firefighters.
For the most part the bears hung out in their pools and were calm; only one of the youngest was bawling.
“I’m amazed at how well the bears handled it,” said center manager Patti Sowka.
One part-time employee who was among the first on the scene was treated for smoke inhalation. One of the center’s two grizzly bears also suffered from smoke inhalation, Sowka said.
“I shudder to think what it would have been like if Kevin and Dave were not here,” she said.
On Monday, volunteers cleaned up piles of melted shovels, rakes and buckets. A few of the dens will need new bed boxes. Several hundred dollars of straw went up in flames and a historic structure used for storage was destroyed.
The bears were playing Monday, apparently unfazed by the previous day’s chaos.
The cause of Sunday’s fire is still under investigation.