Firefighters making progress on Red Eagle fire

ST. MARY, Mont. – Firefighters continued making progress Thursday on a massive wildfire burning along the eastern edge of Glacier National Park.

The Red Eagle fire remained at 26,000 acres, or about 41 square miles, but containment increased to 40 percent, information officer Karen Semple said. Nearly 430 people were assigned to help fight the fire.

The state Transportation Department has begun replacing guardrails on U.S. 89 between Browning and St. Mary and planned to have the stretch reopened by noon today, she said.

The blaze, which started last weekend, prompted officials to close St. Mary to visitors and ask residents to leave the small town. A number of area park campgrounds also were evacuated.

Wednesday night, officials lifted the evacuation order and reopened U.S. 89 from St. Mary to Babb. Glacier also reopened the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road; a portion of the eastern side of the highway had been closed because of the fire.

By 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the Park Cafe in St. Mary was bustling.

“We were all anxious to get back into town,” said Kathryn Hiestand, who owns the business with her husband, Neal Miller. “I have a 116-day season here at the cafe, and that’s pretty short.”

Hiestand said she returned Monday but kept the cafe closed because the rest of the town was still empty.

“I just wanted to be here and watch the property and get some work done,” she said.

She added that the evacuation was necessary, and officials lifted it as quickly as possible. And while the closure wasn’t good for business, the cafe will recover, she said.

“It’s gotta be harmful,” Hiestand said. “But things happen. It’s only four days. It’s not the end of the world.”

Semple said calmer winds and lower temperatures aided firefighters’ progress Thursday. However, the blaze was expected to burn more actively today, based on the weather forecast.

When winds exceed 6 mph, temperatures are above 70, and humidity is below 30 percent, “we can expect extreme fire behavior,” she said.

Today’s forecast called for 10-mph winds, temperatures in the high 70s, and 20 percent relative humidity.

Three structures have been lost in the Red Eagle fire – two unoccupied cabins and an empty trailer.

South of Livingston, the 12,000-acre Big Creek fire was estimated at 40 percent contained. Fire officials said Thursday that 15 structures – three homes, six cabins and six outbuildings – have been destroyed in the fire.

Washington

Residents of several cabins on the east shore of Lake Chelan were allowed to return to the cabins Thursday after firefighters made progress battling a nearby wildfire.

The cabins on the central Washington lake had been evacuated since the Flick Creek fire started July 26. Residents of the rural community of Stehekin at the northern tip of Lake Chelan also had been warned they might have to evacuate.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum reduced the evacuation warnings for both areas to a “level one” on Thursday, meaning residents simply must remain aware of the wildfire threat in the area.

Several trails in the area remained closed Thursday, but transportation and visitor recreation services remained open, said Terry Knupp, spokeswoman for the Chelan Ranger District of the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests.

The fire was 20 percent contained Thursday, with an estimated 4,077 acres or about 6 square miles burned. More than 160 firefighters were assigned to the blaze.

The Tripod and Spur Peak fires, which together have burned more than 58 square miles northeast of Winthrop, also remained fairly calm, Forest Service spokeswoman Betsy Peterson said.

“It’s been pretty quiet the last few days. It’s been cool enough,” Peterson said. “Any growth we had was a little bit of spotting to the north of both fires.”

Northeast of the blazes, the community of Conconully canceled its Miners Day celebration, which had been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The fires were burning about 6 miles away from the town, Peterson said.

The Tinpan fire, about 40 miles northeast of Entiat, had not grown significantly and remained at about 5 square miles, or 3,614 acres. The Bear Gulch fire between Lake Cushman and the southwest face of Mount Rose in the Olympic National Forest grew to 275 acres Thursday, but the fire remained 30 percent contained.