That's the summary of Monday night's public fire information meeting at Frenchtown High School.
“We still have a lot of fire to fight,” said incident commander Kim Martin.
The head of the fire is high up in the Mill Creek drainage, and on the north ridge of Black Cat gulch. The fire is also closing in on Charity Peak.
“We really don't want the fire to go up Mill Creek, and it has a tendency to do that,” Martin said.
On the Evaro flank, fire crews are carefully monitoring and allowing the fire to back down the steep slopes toward the road, letting it burn itself out by consuming brush, grasses and trees in a controlled fashioned.
At the top of Evaro Hill, deep in the woods on Thornburg Way, the fire remains active.
Over the weekend, it was so active in that area, the fire threw starts about three-quarters of a mile in front of the main flames, Martin said. It jumped dozer lines and burned in and around several homes, which firefighters were able to save.
Those spots landed on property on the Flathead Indian Reservation, and crews jumped on them immediately.
“We do not want those spot fires to stand up,” Martin said.
His biggest concern in coming days is that uncontrolled edge of the fire, and the weather forecast that predicts dry days ahead - and wind out of the northwest.
“There is a lot of real estate to cover,” he said, “and this Black Cat fire has nine lives.”
With the fire moving north onto tribal lands, Frenchtown Rural Fire Chief Scott Waldron said the fire is in a transition stage.
Frenchtown Fire will continue doing structure protection work and assessing safety conditions within the department's jurisdiction.
Property that has been abruptly “landscaped” by dozer lines, Waldron assured the crowd, will be rehabilitated.
Waldron cautioned residents who live in or travel through the burned-over areas to take extra precaution. Fire doesn't just burn, it creates other hazards, such as “stump holes” where tree roots have been incinerated. It also makes tree canopies unstable.
“Be safe,” he said. “If there's a concern, call us, we'll come check it out.”
The next public meeting will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Frenchtown High School, Martin announced.
He said he'd like to get the evacuees back into their homes as soon as possible, but that can happen only when it's safe to do so.
“Give us a couple more days,” he said.
The following evacuations are still in place for the Black Cat fire:
- West side of U.S. Highway 93 from mile marker 3.5 to mile marker 5.5, including Grooms and Ryan roads.
- Both sides of Highway 93 from mile marker 5.5. to mile marker 10, including all property accessed from and including Beargrass Mountain, Mercer and Evaro roads.
- Upper Mill Creek, including the Mill Creek stables and the area around Mill Creek Bridge.
- A preparedness request is in effect for residents along Highway 93 from mile marker 10 to mile marker 12. Residents are asked to be prepared to leave within one hour should an evacuation order be given and are advised to remove livestock and large items such as boats and trailers from their property.
After a weekend filled with high winds, spot fires, wild fire runs, evacuations, too many close calls and smoke blanketed much of western Montana, Monday's cooler temperatures and intermittent rain proved to be a well-deserved for fire crews.
In Seeley Lake, rain actually sprinkled most of the afternoon, allowing crews to dig containment lines around the hottest edges of the 34,810-acre Jocko Lakes fire, said Paul Slenkamp, fire information officer.
Not wanting to jinx the situation, Slenkamp dared to describe the day's efforts as “significant progress.”
Because the fire was not burning as intensely, ground crews and dozers were able to get on top of portions of the blaze to bolster and extend containment lines.
Two giant “water scooper” airplanes were leading the charge Monday in cooling the north end of the fire, and two helicopters tackled the southeast end - both of which took off running Sunday, causing authorities to issue more evacuation notices.
By the time firefighters caught their breath and dark fell, the blaze had grown by 3,290 acres.
On Monday, most evacuation orders were lifted, except for residents who live in and around Placid Lake, Slenkamp said. However, he cautioned, the fire situation is fluid and conditions can change abruptly.
Residents need to stay tuned to fire updates, Slenkamp urged, and keep an eye on the weather conditions.
The season isn't over yet, he said, and by week's end the weather is expected to be hot and dry.
The fire continues to actively burn north of Deer Creek and is east of Lake Elsina.
Although Seeley and Placid lakes remain closed to recreational use, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is again allowing recreation on Lake Inez. The lake, located just off Highway 83 north of Seeley Lake, has been closed since Aug. 14 due to aircraft use for firefighting efforts.
In the Rock Creek drainage, the Sawmill Complex's three fires were quiet. Rain, higher humidity and cooler temperatures also helped lift the shroud of smoke from the drainage, allowing firefighters to get a clear look at what the fire did during Sunday's windy afternoon run.
“It has really settled down tremendously,” said fire information officer Pat Cross.
On the 33,356-acre Wyman 2, the fire had spotted over Stony Creek on Sunday, and crews were working to contain those spots Monday.
On the 7,800-acre Sawmill, the fire jumped across the east side of Rock Creek and Ranch Creek. But there's good news, Cross said.
“We got a good look at it Monday morning and it's smaller than we thought,” he said. “It's in a lower spot, which is easier to get to.”
On the 9,419-acre Fisher Point, about 10 homes east of the fire remain threatened, Cross said.
Evacuations remain in effect for residents in the Rock Creek area from Tindall Gulch at mile marker 25 north to Gilbert Creek at mile marker 2, and for residents in Upper Willow Creek from Miners Gulch Road north.
Rock Creek Road is closed to all but local traffic starting at mile marker 2 and to all traffic from mile marker 12 to Miller Flats.
As of late Monday, the three wildfires were estimated to have burned 50,575 acres.
“We are doing everything we can to take this break in the weather and catch up with what we lost on Sunday and Saturday,” Cross said. “We are doing what we can to remove fuels between homes and fire.
“When it's cool like this, it makes it a lot easier to work around the fire because it won't get up and move on us - and that makes for much safer conditions and conditions that are easier to get things done.”
Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com
Video online
For a video report on the Black Cat fire, click here.
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