Wildfires in the Lolo, Bitterroot and Clearwater national forests jumped to the top of the national firefighting priority list Sunday, as scores of fires chased ground crews off the line and mountain valleys filled with smoke.
"There are fires everywhere," said Lolo Forest supervisor Debbie Austin. "We have a lot of things happening at the same time."
"Just before things got too scary, we pulled everyone off every fire," said John Huston, the unit fire forester for the Montana Department of Natural Resources in Missoula. "We had a red flag warning today (for high winds) and it proved itself true."
"To be honest with you, things have been chaotic," Huston said. "With the sheer number of fires and the smoke and haze, we don't even know what all we're working with."
However, after a nighttime conference call with her district rangers, Austin assured residents that "there are people watching all of the fires and we have an understanding of what each one is doing. It's just really busy now; we don't have as many people as we need to do all the jobs that need to be done."
But as the nation's top priority, the fires will be first in line for firefighters, helicopters and retardant planes, she said. "Every day, we will see more and more people and more and more organization. Things will calm down and get organized."
During the heat of the day Sunday, firefighters simply could not keep up with all the new reports of smoke - and the smoke itself eventually obscured the view. Fires started by lightning strikes over the past week revealed themselves in the heat and low humidity, and took off across hundreds of acres.
Huge plumes of smoke were visible in every direction from Missoula, and fires were on the run in Rock Creek, Schwartz Creek, the Potomac area and Wallace Creek, Boles Meadow, the Rattlesnake Wilderness, Fish Creek and Howard Creek. The Missoula Ranger District alone was at work on 40 fires.
"We had a lot of fires take off all at once, but we caught most of them," Austin said. "There were a few we couldn't catch, though, and they got big."
With so much fire, firefighters were pulled from the faster-moving blazes and sent instead to those they had a chance of catching. "Really, the fire behavior was just extreme all across this part of western Montana," Austin said.
In fact, the numerical index by which fire behavior is rated maxed out on Sunday - with fires in the Lolo, Bitterroot and Clearwater forests rating 6 on a scale of 6. A fire burning on the Clearwater forest, across Lolo Pass in Idaho, was throwing fire brands three miles ahead at one point.
Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin urged residents to stay out of forested areas - and particularly away from the wildfires. No evacuations were ordered Sunday, but sheriff's deputies were assessing the threat to homes near each of the fires.
Outside Potomac, residents of the Arkansas and Dirty Ike drainages were warned that they may eventually need to leave their homes. Also worrisome was fire at the top of the Wallace Creek drainage, and a fire on Black Mountain due west of Missoula.
"Here's where I need help, though," McMeekin said. "We need people to stay away from any fires. They are all over, and we don't need anyone getting in the way of firefighters. That just makes the whole situation that much more dangerous."
McMeekin also appealed to residents to remain calm. "We have reports of people self-evacuating because they think they are going to die," he said. "They see smoke and flames, and they are scared."
But as did Austin, McMeekin assured people that if wildfires move too near to populated areas, residents will be notified that they are in danger. A sheriff's deputy will come to their door, he said.
At night's end, information on the size of the fires was extremely limited. A number of incident management teams were en route to the area, as was a command team that will watch over all three national forests.
Fire information officer Sharon Sweeney provided these updates from the fire line. Some of the fires are under the Forest Service's jurisdiction, some under state protection.
- Fish Creek: About 400 acres have burned, but the fire made no major gains Sunday. Firefighters from the Ninemile Ranger District were able to catch two other fires during the day - one up Houle Creek, one up Petty Creek. The Fish Creek fire is about 18 miles west of Frenchtown, up the Fish Creek drainage.
- Boles Meadow: Four miles northeast of the Rattlesnake Wilderness, about 2,200 acres are burning in the Boles Meadow fire. A fire management team was expected to arrive Sunday night. The fire is burning on the Reservation Divide, in the high country. It began the day at 100 acres.
- Mineral Peak: Another 300 acres are burning in the Mineral Peak area on the eastern edge of the Rattlesnake Wilderness. The fire doubled in size Sunday.
- Cooney Ridge: East of Florence and north of the Threemile Wildlife Management Area, the Cooney Ridge fire exhibited extremely aggressive fire behavior Sunday afternoon and was thought to have burned into the Welcome Creek Wilderness. There was no estimate of the fire's size.
- Schwartz Creek/Miller Peak: Another large fire burned in the upper Schwartz Creek drainage. Again, there was no estimate of the fire's size, and the state pulled all crews off the fire because of the high winds.
- Strawberry Mountain: A 150-acre wildfire was burning in the lower end of Rock Creek. Firefighters were en route to the fire when it blew up, so were diverted to another fire.
- North Howard: Also growing was the wildfire that began Saturday in the Howard Creek drainage off U.S. Highway 12. The fire was moving north toward the Petty Creek area late Sunday; its size was not known.
- Black Mountain: Visible after dark in Missoula, the Black Mountain fire was under state protection. Although homeowners were worried, the fire was three ridges back and two miles away from the nearest houses. The darkness created an optical illusion that made the fire seem closer.
- Beaver Lakes: In Idaho's Clearwater National Forest, a complex of 30-35 fires was moving north into the Skookum Butte area. A Type I incident management team was expected to arrive Monday.
"We had so much very aggressive fire activity today," Sweeney said. "And the forecast is for more of the same on Monday."
In fact, warm and breezy weather is expected through Wednesday, according to Mike Johnson, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula.
"Basically, it's going to be dry and windy, with temperatures in the 90s," he said. "And chances for isolated dry thunderstorms remain high."
A red flag warning has again been issued for Missoula and surrounding areas through Monday evening - increasing the chance for fire runs and that firefighters will be pulled off fire lines.
Reporter Betsy Cohen also contributed to this story.
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