“It was 1,050 acres as of this morning,” said fire information officer Rich Janssen, “and it's still growing. It's been growing slowly all day.”
Fanned by westerly winds gusting to 30 mph, the Deep Draw fire remains about eight miles from the lake, along Highway 28 between Elmo and Plains. It was sparked by weekend lightning, and now occupies more than 200 firefighters, including four Type I Hotshot crews and four Type II crews.
The better news is a prediction of full containment by Saturday. “Containment means a line around the fire perimeter,” Janssen said. “Control is going to take a week or two more, at least.”
A public information meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Elmo Community Center.
Crews, Janssen said, are burdened by “extremely steep country,” and by the dead and down timber scattering the dry hills. “It's moving uphill,” he said of the fire, “with single or small-group tree torching today.”
Planes spent the afternoon scooping water from nearby Elmo Bay, “which is really close, so we get a great turnaround time,” he said.
Below, on Highway 28, thick smoke obscured visibility, “and if travelers can avoid that area, they should,” he advised.
The fire appears to be blowing away from the road and nearby homes, Janssen said, “but people still need to be aware. Anything can happen when Mother Nature's involved.”
That, in fact, is something firefighters throughout the region understand all too well, particularly after last weekend's electrical storms.
On the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, firefighters spent Tuesday wrapping up work on three small fires, including the Ironside blaze southwest of Boulder. That tiny wildfire scorched just 0.4 acre before crews contained it.
The four-acre Whetstone fire, southwest of Philipsburg, was expected to be completely doused by Tuesday night.
Likewise, the Deer Creek fire southeast of Dillon was expected to be declared “out” by Wednesday morning.
On the Bitterroot National Forest, crews are handling 14 small wildfires, including two new lightning-caused blazes. The Ten Mile fire - near Ten Mile and Lost Horse creeks - is about one-tenth of an acre and being fought with two helicopters.
The Lake Lomo fire, west of Hamilton, is estimated at a half acre. Helicopters have been dousing the rough terrain there, as well.
Flathead National Forest crews also have been busy snuffing small fires, with initial attack successful at containing all blazes at less than one acre.
Crews, however, are monitoring three backcountry fires on the forest and one in Glacier National Park, allowing them to burn for ecological reasons.
Those include the two-acre Wildrose fire in the Great Bear Wilderness; the one-acre Shale Mountain fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness; the high-elevation Triangle fire, also one acre, in the Great Bear Wilderness; and the Meteka fire in Glacier Park, located between the Camas and Inside North Fork roads, north of Columbia Falls.
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