The Flathead, which entered the wildfire season with a solid snowpack, had remained considerably wetter than many other parts of western Montana. And land managers there enjoyed considerable - if spotty - rain along with recent evening lightning storms, dampening the fire danger.
But those strikes were only awaiting a bit of dry heat and wind, which arrived over the weekend and stuck through Tuesday.
It was spotted Monday, but likely was sparked more than a week ago by lightning, officials said.
“We've been building a heli-spot up there, but there's no real safety zone for firefighters right now,” said Denise Germann, fire information officer on the Flathead National Forest.
Additional firefighting crews, including a Type 2 management team, have been dispatched to the blaze.
Already, officials have closed many nearby forest routes, including the Coal Creek Road, Cyclone Road and Moran Creek Road. Trails to Cyclone Lookout, Coal Ridge, Moran Creek and Coal Creek also are closed.
And although the Hay Creek Road remains open, “more closures may be implemented as fire conditions change,” according to a statement released by Flathead forest officials.
“We've seen this fire move rather quickly already, so it's a fire we're paying very close attention to,” Germann said.
More smoke spilled over into the Flathead on Tuesday from the Holland Peak fire, burning not far from Condon in the Swan Valley.
That wildfire, at about 100 acres, is eight miles east of Condon, south of Rumble Creek Lake. Like the Sun Dog, it is believed to be a holdover from previous lightning storms.
Germann said bucket drops have been made on the Holland fire, but there hasn't yet been a safe avenue there to put firefighters on the ground.
“It's in steep, rugged terrain and it's been burning quickly at times, so we're working on it and monitoring it closely,” she said.
The Flathead fires are just a smattering of blazes that came to life in warm, windy conditions early in the week and were made worse by Tuesday afternoon's winds, which ushered in some cooler weather for the next few days. Missoula had sustained winds of 12 mph, but gusts of up to 33 mph. Those hot winds forced the humidity down to about 8 percent, creating a rough combination of fire factors.
“This is the sort of conditions where you get extremely hazardous fire conditions,” said Trent Smith, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Missoula. “Fires that are already burning get worse, and lightning strikes that have been smoldering turn into fires.”
A remote fire, possibly started by lightning, popped up Tuesday afternoon on Sheep Mountain near Wisherd Ridge at the south end of the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. The fire was small, about 4 to 5 acres, but suppression efforts were under way Tuesday evening, despite the fact that the fire was not accessible by road.
“We've already had two choppers in the area, and we've got some people on the ground working their way to the fire right now,” said Pat Cross, an information officer for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Cross said three single-engine planes were dropping retardant on the fire, which produced single-tree torching and flames 4 to 5 feet high along the ground.
Two 20-person crews have been ordered for the fire, along with a third chopper, Cross said.
Back across the Rattlesnake Mountains to the northwest, the 85-acre Ashley Lake fire was burning in the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness. The fire is about eight miles northeast of St. Ignatius in the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' grizzly bear management zone.
Fire information officer Germaine White said the fire started as a lightning strike on Aug. 8, but had done very little until Monday, when it roared to life, moving from two to 80 acres very quickly.
“It's a complex fire burning at high altitude in very steep and rocky terrain,” White said.
Although the tribes have closely monitored the fire, it has essentially been treated as a wilderness fire thus far, with no efforts being made to put it out.
“There are a lot of hazards associated with this fire, but we have monitored it from the air and we've done a full assessment and plan on it today,” White said.
The fire is burning between 6,000 and 7,400 feet in the McDonald Peak area, and currently poses no threat to private property or residences.
Western Montana's biggest fire, the Gash Creek fire west of Victor, continued to kick up a huge plume of smoke as it burned intensely in the Glen Lake area. The fire, which has burned more than 7,800 acres, burned out of the North Fork of Sweathouse Creek into the Big Creek drainage to the north, forcing fire bosses to pull crews off that side of the fire. The Big Creek area is now closed due to the fire.
Officials descrbed the fire Tuesday as “extremely active and erratic,” and said they aren't sure how far the blaze has moved into Big Creek. On the northeast flank, the fire has burned into country that was scorched in the 2003 Big Creek fire, and that area served as a buffer, allowing helicopter crews to work on hot spots.
A public meeting about the Gash Creek fire will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Victor Fire Hall.
In addition to the new “front-country” fires, more than a dozen small wildfires are now burning in the backcountry of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. Those fires, though, are being managed as “fire-use fires” - a designation for blazes ignited by nature and generally allowed to burn. Land managers monitor those fires closely, but do not actively work to suppress them, choosing instead to make use of the flames to meet forest health objectives.
The largest of those fires, at 125 acres, is the Jenny Creek fire, below Youngs Mountain in the South Fork Flathead River drainage. It has closed the Blackfoot Divide trail from Youngs Pass to Hahn Creek Pass, along the wilderness boundary.
For information on the other wilderness fires, visit www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead.
Fire restrictions remain in place over the region, including in Flathead and Lincoln counties and the off-reservation portion of Lake County. Campfires are allowed only in developed campgrounds, and smoking is limited to inside vehicles, buildings or areas cleared of debris. Fireworks also are off-limits.
Nevertheless, several fireworks-caused fires have been reported in recent days, much to the dismay of officials who continue to warn of severe drying in the woods.
“This is a critical time when fine fuels, such as grasses, are drying and dying,” said Flathead County fire warden Rick Trembath. “This contributes to quick ignition, and provides more available fuels ready to burn.”
The cold fronts predicted to roll through in coming days will knock some of the heat out of wildfires, but also will come with high winds, “which will help to carry the fire,” he said.
The Weather Service's Smith said the area should see temperatures cool to about 80 on Thursday, but said a new ridge of high pressure will build over the weekend, forcing temperatures back up to 90 degrees or so by Sunday.
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