Rains help air quality, but fires still going strong

By Karen Peterson and

Jennifer McBride

Leader staff

EVARO — The Black Cat fire has barely touched reservation ground but folks traveling Highway 93 still felt the effects of the fire with long waits, road closures and thick smoke last week, as air quality shot up to "unhealthy" before rain cleared the air Sunday and Monday night.

The lightning-caused Black Cat fire burned an estimated 12,000 acres in little over a week, flaring up last Friday as it jumped from just a few hundred acres to more than 4,000 in 24 hours.

"When they close the highway, people stop in here to wait it out," Gray Wolf Peak Casino employee Joe Perry said. "Right now, we are on a pre-evacuation alert. We have to be ready to go if the firefighters come and tell us, 'hey, you have to leave'."

A little rainfall Monday helped, but it didn't stop the larger fuels from burning. As of Tuesday, the fire was 30 percent contained, but residents along Highway 93 south of Arlee are on alert.

"We have the sprinklers on our propane tanks right now," Perry said. "Today [Monday] it is quiet out here and the fire hasn't quite made it here. The firefighters did a lot of work last night. So the fire is moving slow."

Officials worked hard to keep the highway open as much as possible, but speed limits were reduced to 35 due in part to fire activity adjacent to the highway.

Residents along Highway 93 in Missoula County, and south Lake County, were put on evacuation notice last weekend, but Tuesday, the notice was lifted for many areas. Residents in the upper Mill Creek area and all residents on both sides of Highway 93 were allowed to return home, as well as residents south of the Bucksnort Restaurant.

The evacuation order remains in effect west of Highway 93 from the Bucksnort Restaurant north to mile marker 10, as of Tuesday.

As for Joe's Smoke Ring, the fire hadn't hurt business.

"Business hasn't been affected to much, and we are doing all right," Perry said.

The Chippy Creek fire, still the largest wildfire in Montana as of Tuesday, hadn't calmed down, either. As of Tuesday, only a third of the fire's 96,154 acres were contained and Hubbart Dam subdivision residents remained under an evacuation order. Firefighters have spent over $10 million dollars combating the fire so far.

While overcast skies and cooler temperatures were the Type 1 management team's allies on Monday, high humidity kept the team from completing burnout operations. Nine hand crews, 37 fire engines, 15 water tenders, 42 pieces of heavy equipment and five helicopters were devoted to fire-stopping operations Tuesday morning.

The Chippy Creek fire starting burning on July 31, and investigators don't know yet what caused the fire.

For updates on road closures, county dispatchers are advising folks to call 511, the state's road information hotline. Because the evacuations and road closures are determined by fire crews working in Missoula County, Lake County dispatchers often don't have up-to-the-minute reports on whether Hwy. 93 is open south of Arlee.