More Wildfires Flare Up in Montana
Pastor Dale Morgan
More Wildfires Flare Up in Montana*
Tuesday July 31, 2007 5:01 AM
By SARAH COOKE
Associated Press Writer
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A trio of fast-moving wildfires threatened nearly
200 homes in western Montana on Monday, but the flames were not expected
to stop thousands of people from coming to the area for a quirky food
festival this week.
Rodney Lincoln said he had been told the fires were moving away from his
Rock Creek Lodge in Clinton and would not affect the Testicle Festival,
where people from around the world eager to consume deep-fried bull
testicles known as ``Rocky Mountain oysters.''
``There's some smoke, but in terms of flames, compared to last night
it's pretty mellow in my estimation,'' Lincoln said. ``A little smoke
isn't going to hurt us. It's not going to deter people from coming.''
Two of the area fires, believed to be human-caused, were detected over
the weekend, and one has been burning since a lightning strike July 15.
Residents of about 40 homes were asked to leave the area east of Clinton
Sunday night as a 1,000-acre blaze - about a square mile - burned along
Interstate 90.
To the south, campers and residents of another 40 homes west of
Philipsburg were asked to evacuate in advance of a 1,000-acre fire
there. About 40 outbuildings also were threatened by the blaze, and
crews were placing protective fire wrapping around the structures on
Monday, said Nick Spang, fire information officer. Erratic winds were
expected as a cold front moved through the area.
``We're not letting anyone up there unless they're going up to there to
collect belongings,'' he said.
A third fire in the area has been burning for more than two weeks but
flared up recently, Spang said. Granite County authorities were prepared
to evacuate as many as 100 homes threatened by the 300-plus-acre wildfire.
Elsewhere around the state, a fire north of Helena grew to nearly 15,000
acres on Monday under ``extreme'' conditions, said Bonney McNabb, fire
information officer.
``The weather's just not been a very good friend to us,'' McNabb said.
``But the next couple of days are supposed to be better.''
A huge plume of smoke from the fire was visible from Helena and
Interstate 15.
Evacuation orders remained in effect for 40 homes along the Missouri
River and the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The surrounding
recreation sites also remained closed.
The state's largest fire, west of Augusta, increased to 45,000 acres -
or 70 square miles - on Monday, more than doubling in just 24 hours,
officials said. Most of the new burning occurred in the Bob Marshall
Wilderness.
Some residents in the Gibson Reservoir area, on the northeast corner of
the fire, left on their own, said fire information officer Jean Withnell.
The blaze, burning since July 11, crossed fire lines in several other
areas and was heading toward Benchmark in the western part of the state,
fire managers said.
South of Glacier National Park, a fire doubled to 10,000 acres Monday
and burned to within a mile of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and
within 3 miles of 10 to 15 homes, said fire information officer Dale
Warriner.
A contract vehicle supporting the fire was involved in a rollover near
the fire camp, Warriner said. Two people were taken by helicopter to a
hospital, where one was treated and released and the other held
overnight for observation.
Montana and Idaho each had more than a dozen fires, far more than any
other state, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Idaho has seen far more land burned, but its biggest wildfire by far, a
1,020-square-mile blaze that at one point threatened two small towns
along the Nevada line, was expected to be completely contained by
Tuesday morning, said fire information officer Bill Watt. Rain last week
helped crews battle the two-week-old fire, which destroyed three
outbuildings and killed an unknown number of cattle.
Elsewhere, a wildfire started Sunday afternoon in eastern Michigan's
Huron National Forest and damaged at least three homes before
firefighters contained it at about 500 acres, police said. About 100
people were evacuated, although nearly all were allowed to return to
their homes by Sunday night, said state police Sgt. Tim Gronda.
Authorities say the fire, about 130 miles north of Detroit, was
contained but not yet controlled.
``Within a four-mile radius, nothing is left unburned - it just took
everything,'' said Carol Nilsson, fire information officer for the
national forest. ``It was a very fast-moving fire and did a lot of damage.''
In California, a nearly month-old wildfire in Santa Barbara County that
had appeared to be standing still flared up over the weekend, burning
1,500 new acres and causing an evacuation order for a dozen rural homes,
authorities said.
Warm and extremely dry conditions allowed the fire to burn through old,
heavy trees in the Los Padres National Forest on its uncontained
southeast side.
The blaze had consumed about 33,500 acres, or 52 square miles, since it
started July 4. It was 70 percent contained Monday.