Fire near Buffalo Bridge

Crews from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Polson and Ronan worked quickly Thursday evening to contain a 42-acre wildland fire burning near Buffalo Bridge.

“It’s considered contained but not controlled,” Polson volunteer firefighter Karen Sargeant said.

Dubbed the West Buffalo Bridge Fire, crews responded to the area, on tribal land, around 5 p.m. after calls coming into Lake County Dispatch reported seeing large clouds of smoke. Tribal fire, Polson and Ronan responded with manpower, tenders and an air assault that included a single engine air tanker (SEAT) and a helicopter. Sargeant said the plane dropped Thermagel, a blue fire suppressant, on the blaze, while the helicopter responded with a long line that dipped a bucket into the Flathead River to drop water on the fire. Crews tended the area all of Thursday night and will be mopping up the area Friday.

“I wouldn’t say it’s out, we can’t say it’s out for three days,” Polson Fire Chief John Fairchild said. “There are still hotspots out there.”

The fire jumped the river to the east side, according to Sargeant, and spot fires, including one of up to a half acre, sprouted up.

“Just embers sparked those spot fires, that’s how dry it is down there,” she said. “People need to be very careful and use fire pits and be safe. We are very dry, despite the earlier rain.”

The cause is still under investigation, Sargeant said, but evidence points to either a lighting storm Wednesday night or a campfire.

The fire was in brush and timber, Sargeant said, including some tree torching but no crown fires. She said it was the biggest fire yet of the summer. Smoke was visible in Polson Thursday evening as windy conditions brought haze and the smell of smoke over the town and Flathead Lake.

Sargeant said the Tribes would send out an investigator Friday to learn the cause of the blaze. She commended all the responding agencies for working well together.

Check back for updates as they become available.