Circle of fire: Four blazes fanned by high winds

The dry lightning that strode across western Montana Saturday night was bad enough, starting a line of fires from north of Dixon to Niarada. But when winds, reportedly gusting up to 40 mph, kicked up Sunday afternoon, fires that seemed manageable suddenly weren’t.

Smoke billowed behind the Bison Range, forcing managers to close the gates and evacuate visitors. West of Round Butte a giant plume of black smoke boiled up from the Flathead River as the fire leapt across and raced through hayfields and sagebrush, threatening homes, farms and livestock. Hwy. 28 between Elmo and Niarada was closed Sunday after fire jumped across the roadway and sped north.

On Tuesday, the Holmes Creek fire started 10 miles east of Polson, and had consumed 25 acres. It's burning at the top of the Mission Range in timber with a fast rate of speed and flames as high as 30 feet.

A Complex Incident Management Team was slated to take command of multiple fires, bringing more support staff and resources to the blazes.

Middle Ridge

The Middle Ridge fire started Saturday night, along with the rash of other lightning-caused fires. Rebecca Fels and Jim Harrison live on Valley View Road, just north of Round Butte Road.

“I got up and went out on the porch because I was hoping rain was coming,” Fels recalled on Sunday as the couple watched the fire from Gillette Lane. “I said ‘Jim, it’s just lightning and thunder.’”

The couple were concerned about their 150 cows. “If it gets up this way, where do you go with them?” Jim asked.

Leo and Kris Fleming, who ranch on a bluff above the river, lost hay and a hayshed.

“A lot of friends and neighbors came and assisted us in making a fire line, moving equipment and spraying water,” Kris said Monday. Trucks from the Ronan Rural Fire Department showed up too, and applied water to an area to prevent a second hayshed from burning.

“We lost a hayshed and hay and many fences, but we're thankful we didn't lose more,” she said. “It was a fast-moving hot fire.”

In a Facebook post, their neighbor, Aisling Benavides Ruwhiu, thanked people from Ronan who helped load her 17 horses into a trailer “as that fire jumped the river and headed right to my place,” and the firefighters who dug a line “and got this one contained so no more damage would happen.”

Sharlene and Dale Flora, who live just east of the Flemings and Ruwhiu, were advised to prepare to evacuate by firefighters. “They said be ready to leave at a moment’s notice,” Sharlene said.

The couple was taking care of their 4-year-old grandson, and trying to shield him from their worry, even as they backed up computer records, gathered up business files, and packed clothes.

“All of a sudden you get into that mode of doing what you need to do.”

Fires aren’t unusual in the area. Sharlene remembers watching one burn south of Sloan’s Bridge a few years ago.

“We never felt threatened,” she said. “The river’s wide – you never even think it could jump it.” The Middle Ridge fire is a different matter. Even though the blaze had moved north by Monday and didn’t feel like a direct threat, “it gave us a whole different perspective,” she said.

According the CSKT Division of Fire, the fire had consumed nearly 11,000 acres by Tuesday morning, and was spreading north and south in heavy timber. Firefighters and heavy equipment were on the scene, with “a lot of air support as it is safe to do so.”

According to an evening post. the north end of the fire was one mile from some structures, and four large air tankers had been requested.

Communication Butte

At the Bison Range, word came Sunday afternoon that the Communication Butte fire in Ferry Basin was headed east and the refuge needed to be evacuated “out of an over-abundance of caution,” said Whisper Camel-Means, head of Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Division of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation. The fire jumped the river Sunday night.

The game wardens and front-desk staff contacted visitors and asked them to leave. Even though the loop around Red Sleep Drive usually takes over two hours “If you’re driving slow and looking at everything,” said Camel-Means, “you can make it in 45 minutes if you have to.”

Staff stayed through most of the night too, in case a wildland fire crew needed access to the 18,766-acre refuge.

Camel-Means says the Bison Range keeps a fire truck on the premises, and has a plan calling for full suppression of any fire that might alight there.

“The inside gates are all open now, so animals have the ability to move where they need to and when. If a fire was pushing them, they’d bust through a fence if they had to,” she said. “That’s not desirable, of course.”

She was grateful CSKT Division of Fire bumped up fire restrictions to Stage 2 Tuesday. The staff will mow next to the roads, post signage, talk to visitors about how to avoid starting fires, and insist that anyone traveling through the range stay on the roadway and avoid tall grass.

“If people aren’t doing the right thing, we may have to restrict entrance,” she said.

By Tuesday morning, the fire had spread to around 1,500 acres and was burning in grass and timber that was steep and hard to access. According to CSKT, “crews have made a lot of progress putting in containment lines” on Monday.

Big Knife

Meanwhile, Arlee residents have been watching the Big Knife Fire east of town mushroom from 75 acres and 10 fire personnel last Sunday, July 24, to around 2,000 acres Tuesday with more than 100 firefighters and aerial support from helicopters, single-engine air tankers, and smokejumpers.

Marti de Alva, who lives close to the fire, said on Facebook that it started “with a lightning bolt and house-shaking thunder.” Her family has stayed put but remains “packed and ready to evacuate if the order comes through.”

According to CSKT Fire Division, a burnout was conducted Sunday night after the wind dissipated to secure a line from the trailhead of Big Knife Creek along the western edge to Blodgett Creek.

“This line is holding well,” said C.T. Camel, who added that a Complex Incident Management Team was taking over Aug. 2.

The Niarada fire, located 11 miles west of Elmo, had consumed around 8,430 acres by Tuesday morning, and the Mill Pocket Fire, three miles west of Niarada was at 600 acres. Smokejumpers, single-engine air tankers, helicopters and heavy equipment were deployed against the blaze, which was burning in very steep and rugged terrain. Hwy. 28 had reopened Monday with speed restrictions.

According to a report from CSKT on Tuesday, smoke had forced fire crews to postpone mapping due to low visibility.

The Red Cross opened shelters at the Arlee Community Center and Ronan High School over the weekend which are now on standby.