Inside, state and federal fire officials were explaining to Gov. Brian Schweitzer the increasingly desperate outlook for the remainder of Montana's fire season.
“Where we are is sort of in the eye of the hurricane,” said Bob Harrington, state forester in the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
“We've got very dry fuels, we've got a lack of resources and we are just entering the time when we historically have most of our fire ignitions,” Harrington said during a flight over the Gash Creek and Woodchuck fires burning in the Bitterroot Valley. “I'm about as worried as I can be.”
The governor is worried, as well, enough so that he's urging Montanans who conceivably might find themselves in harm's way to take action.
After his aerial tour of the Gash Creek fire, Schweitzer offered advice to those living in the timbered draws west of Victor.
“If I was those people, I'd been down buying a 1,500-gallon tank for water, I'd be looking at my trees and I'd be thinking about a way to get some bare dirt around my property,” he said. “We'll do everything we can for people, but that's just what I'd be doing in the way of personal responsibility.”
Harrington noted that during the dangerous fire season of 2003, the only major fires burning in western Montana during this same week were in Glacier National Park. Within weeks, the Missoula area was reeling from the Black Mountain and Cooney Ridge fires.
“We're way ahead of schedule,” Harrington said.
The next couple of weeks are the historic highs for fire ignition, an unpleasant thought considering the forecast for Sunday, which included high winds and the possibility of dry lightning.
“The game right now is ignitions,” said Larry Dawson, director of fire and aviation for the Forest Service‘s Northern Region. “Everything's in place for things to go big.”
If those ignitions occur in the next 24 hours, they'll be particularly problematic, Dawson said, because of fierce winds anticipated along with a cold front that should drop high temperatures by 15 degrees in the next few days.
“It's the strongest cold front in the last six weeks,” Dawson said. “And it's going to be a windy one.”
About the only positive, Harrington said, is that western Montana just doesn't have that many fires burning right now.
“We're just fortunate that there aren't a lot more fires on the landscape,” he said.
Harrington and Dawson noted the ignition of a few new fires in western Montana - the Little Spar fire burning about 20 miles south of Troy and the Red Eagle fire burning in Glacier National Park. Those fires were still small on Saturday and weren't threatening structures, Harrington said.
Beyond the problems of dry fuels, hot weather and high winds, Harrington said Montana is also facing a problem it didn't have in 2000 and 2003. During those fire seasons, the state was at the top of the national priority list because the fires were threatening life and property.
This season, there are enough dangerous wildfires burning in California and the Pacific Northwest that Montana has fallen to No. 3 on the priority list. That makes it harder to get resources.
“How quickly will our resources be overused this year?” the governor asked.
“Very,” said Harrington.
Harrington said Montana has thus far made excellent use of the firefighters and equipment that have been available, but noted that an eruption of new fires would badly stress the system that provides both.
“We've been placing orders that aren't being filled, and we're also seeing some of the resources that we have here being pulled out and sent elsewhere,” he said.
California is getting some rain right now, and that should mean that some of the pressure on resources will lessen, but it's still not clear Montana will get them. For that reason, Harrington told the governor it was at least time to start thinking about what sort of help the Montana National Guard might provide.
Schweitzer said he'd pursue the topic immediately.
After the briefing, Schweitzer, Harrington and a few members of the press headed out for the aerial tour. The flight offered mixed news. From the air, the Woodchuck fire looked placid and tired. It was barely smoking, with no active flames and looked well under control.
“I like the look of that one,” Harrington said.
The same could not be said of Gash Creek, which was spotting into the Sweathouse Creek drainage west of Victor. On its northwest border, the fire was roaring, sending up flames that Harrington estimated at 100 feet. Part of the ridge the fire had ascended is broad and nearly flat at the top, and the fire seemed to be moving slowly there. But along narrower parts of the ridge, the land falls quickly away into the Sweathouse drainage.
“You can see how the smoke column is starting to lay down in there,” Harrington said, noting the smoke pouring into Sweathouse. “If it starts down in there, it won't stop.”
The danger, heightened by increasing winds from the southwest, is that the fire might then move east out of the drainage toward the Bitterroot Valley.
“We've had situations in 2000 and 2003 where we've had fires doing this and they haven't come down, but it's not a situation we like to have again,” Harrington said. “This fire is going to be with us for a long time.”
By that point in the flight, Gash Creek was starting to feel like a metaphor for a fire season that is nowhere close to being done.
“We've got six more weeks, if we're lucky,” Harrington said.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)