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Crews were close to buttoning up a 450-acre fire that scorched Mount Sentinel’s western slope Thursday afternoon, but still smoldered in heavy timber near the mountaintop.

Although fire officials were not calling the fire 100 percent contained at 3 p.m., they expected to announce full containment by dusk.

“Yay! We’re all so happy,” said Cindy Super, fire prevention coordinator and information officer for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. “Things are definitely lying down, and we’re very optimistic. We’ve accomplished everything we wanted to this morning and afternoon.”

Super said hand crews and water-dropping helicopters continued to struggle with people hiking and horseback riding in the area, despite clearly marked closures on the “M” trail going up the face of the mountain and the trail accesses at Crazy Canyon and Pattee Canyon.

“People keep appearing,” Super said. “It’s pretty surprising for helicopters, or hand crews to turn around and see some random guy in shorts and a T-shirt.”

Two boys playing with a cigarette lighter are apparently to blame for the wildfire, which started around 7 p.m. Wednesday at the base of Sentinel, behind the University of Montana’s married student housing complex.

The boys, ages 7 and 8, apparently stole the lighter from a car and were lighting pages of a phonebook “and other odd items” on fire when they ignited a patch of dry grass, according to Missoula Assistant Fire Chief Jason Diehl.

The culprits likely will be cited in youth court, undergo juvenile counseling and attend the city’s fire setter’s intervention program.

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