Dry weather could worsen Montana fires
SEELEY LAKE, Mont. – Residents who fled a large wildfire burning in northwestern Montana were briefly allowed to return Monday to check on their homes and gather belongings, as firefighters braced for worsening weather.
Some 675 homes have been evacuated since the Jocko Lakes fire began Friday about 50 miles northeast of Missoula. It has burned more than 14,200 acres, or 22 square miles. The cause was under investigation.
More than 200 firefighters arrived to help the 70 working the blaze. Dry lightning was a possibility for Monday night and humidity was expected to drop today, creating hot and dry conditions.
Fire officials said they expected the acreage to increase following infrared mapping Monday night. Firefighters were taking the unusual step of building containment lines in advance of the fire, rather than attacking it from the sides.
“We’re trying to build lines ahead of the fire because the town is in the way and people’s homes,” said Ricardo Zuniga, a fire information officer.
So far, one house has been destroyed and another damaged. A commercial building and seven outbuildings also were damaged.
Evacuees briefly returning to their homes Monday were told to be out by midday, when fire activity typically heightens.
The fire was about 1 ½ miles from the resort town of Seeley Lake.
Missoula County Undersheriff Mike Dominick said a few people chose to stay despite the evacuation order.
A new fire in Western Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest had burned 375 acres by Monday evening, forcing the evacuation of about 36 homes west of Darby.
Fire information officer Dixie Dies said most of the evacuations were prompted by strong winds from the north.
About 80 people were assigned to the Tin Cup fire Monday, and a specialized “type 2” team was scheduled to take over management today, Dies said.
She stressed that it was business as usual in the area, despite the fire.
“We have smoke, but doggone it, Montana is alive and well and is open,” Dies said. “We don’t want people to not come because of it.”
In the northwest part of Montana, the Chippy Creek fire north of Thompson Falls had charred an estimated 40,000 acres, or 62.5 square miles, by Monday afternoon.
Improved weather conditions were slowing growth of the fire, which had expanded by about 4,000 acres since Sunday morning. Bulldozers were plowing fire lines to protect an estimated 350 threatened structures, most of them homes, said Dyan Bone, a fire information officer.
No homes had been lost and no evacuations were ordered, but Bone said that could change. Road closures remained in effect for roads leading east off Route 556 and west off Route 28, Bone said. The two highways remained open.
More than a dozen large wildfires were burning in Montana, which has seen an earlier than usual start to the fire season. “The drought conditions in the Western states, that’s definitely keeping the fires burning,” said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. “We’ve had a lot of windy conditions, which are rapidly spreading the fires.”