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Wildfire, fire management and air quality news for western Montana and the Northern Rockies.

Montana Wildfire Roundup For August 29, 2017

Firefighters on the Rice Ridge Fire keep a watch for spot fires.
Inciweb

Several new evacuation orders and warnings have been issued today across western Montana due to wildfires. Here's the latest, we'll upate this post as more information becomes available.

Rice Ridge Fire, near Seeley Lake

Evacuation order (evacuate now):

  • Northern boundary: The junction of Highway 83 and Cedar Lane northeast to Morrell Creek Road. The boundary continues along the Cottonwood Lakes Road east to the National Forest boundary.
  • Eastern boundary: Cottonwood Lakes Road at the National Forest and south to the northern boundary of the Double Arrow.
  • Southern boundary: The junction of Highway 83 and Whitetail Drive east to the junction of Whitetail Drive and Dolly Varden. The southern boundary continues east to include the area north of the Commons and southeast along Montana Drive to the junction with Glacier Drive, then south to the junction with Double Arrow road, including Pyramid Loop and all areas in the Double Arrow subdivision to the south and east.
  • Western boundary: The junction of Highway 83 and Cedar Lane south to the junction of Highway 83 and Whitetail Drive.

Evacuation warnings (be prepared to evacuate):

  • Big Sky and Emerald Lake areas. Includes all properties from the intersection of Woodworth Road and Highway 83 east to Skilly Drive, and all properties north of Woodworth Road. That area is about 100 homes.

Just before noon today Seeley Swan High School announced that school is now cancelled until next Tuesday, September 5. An earlier notice said classes were cancelled for just a day.
The Seeley Lake Post Office is also closed until further notice. People can pick up their mail at the post office in Milltown starting today; bring a photo ID to do so.

The Clearwater Canoe trail north of Seeley Lake was closed today, too.

Nelson Creek Fire, SW of Darby

Evacuation order (evacuate now):

  • Due to its close proximity to the Nez Perce Road the sheriff’s office has issued an evacuation order covering about 65 houses in the South Fork area, including Lapwai and Fox Lanes and Bear Hollow Court, and closed a section of the Nez Perce Road. Anyone traveling from Idaho will be turned around at the Little West Fork parking area approximately 4 miles shy of the main West Fork Road (state highway 473).

Meyers Fire, southwest of Phillipsburg

Evacuation warnings (be prepared to evacuate):

  • Ravalli County Sheriff issued an evacuation warning for residents in the area from FS Road 5778 to Little East Fork Road/FS Road 724.

At about 1:00 this afternoon a new evacuation WARNING was posted southwest of Phillipsburg in the East Fork Bitterroot Road area. That’s due to the Meyers fire that’s been burning outside Phillipsburg since mid-July.
Fire Information Officer Greg DeNitto says the warning was prompted when the fire started moving across the divide from the Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest to the Bitterroot Forest side.

“Because of that spread into a new location and completely changed situation and the number of structures and homes in the east fork, the Ravalli County Sherriff’s office issued an evacuation warning this morning for about 200 and some residences.”
 

Lolo Peak Fire

Evacuation warnings (be prepared to evacuate):

  • Bear Creek area on HIghway 12 east of Lolo and south to the Bass Creek Road on Highway 93.

The Lolo Peak Fire is in critical weather conditions today and could possibly turn extreme tomorrow. The forest is continuing to dry out and firefighters are watching out for spot fires that could appear in the area this afternoon during thunderstorms from the southwest.
As of this afternoon, evacuation warnings remain in place from the Bear Creek area on Highway 12 east of Lolo and south to the Bass Creek Road on Highway 93.

There are no evacuations orders at this time, but fire information officer Mike Cole says homeowners in the area need to stay vigilant.

“You need to pay attention to what the fire is doing. There’s a reason why those areas are still in evacuation warning. This is a huge fire. We’re getting close to 40,000 acres. There is a lot of fire out in that landscape that has the ability to move around.”

Northern Rockies fire teams swapped  management of the fire burning ten miles southwest of Lolo this afternoon.

An air quality alert is in effect for Missoula and Ravalli counties tonight.

Sunrise Fire

Trout Creek Rd reopened at 8:00 a.m. to public traffic. There are still engines and and crews operating in the area, mostly working on suppression repair, trying to remove any damage crews may have done outside the fire's perimeter. Some evacuations are still in effect in the Quartz Creek and Cougar Gulch ares, but PIO Michael Davis says that those evacuations are not due to fire danger at this point, but due to the presence of lots of heavy equipment still working the area.

The fire is 77 percent contained, with the majority showing very little heat in last night's infrared flight. Most of the active burning is on the south and SW perimeter where heavy helicopters continue dropping water and hand crews work to strengthen lines.

"I'm confident that, barring unforseen circumstances, they're going to wrap this up in relatively short order," Davis says. But he emphasizes that, "fires can always surprise you. Never say it's out until it's out."

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