“It's the first time this has happened all summer,” said Mamie Colburn, an air-quality specialist for Missoula County. “We had a spot of rain in the afternoon, and the numbers went down a little bit, but then they shot right back up again.”
In the Flathead, however, a heavy midday soaking completely cleared smoky skies and dampened temperatures considerably.
By 9 a.m. Tuesday, spot measurements of particulate in Missoula's atmosphere had exceeded 100 micrograms per cubic meter, placing air quality squarely in the “unhealthy” range. By late afternoon, particulate levels had increased to about 200 micrograms per cubic meter, and air quality was verging on the “very unhealthy” mark.
In “unhealthy” conditions, Colburn said, some people need to think twice before working or exercising outdoors - folks with heart or lung disease, for instance, and smokers, children and the elderly, in addition to those with asthma.
“It's pretty smoky here,” Colburn said from her Missoula office late Tuesday. “It can be very irritating for some people.”
Skies also filled with smoke in the Bitterroot Valley, where sensors put conditions in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category by midmorning.
Health officials in Polson and Ronan likewise were issuing warnings early Tuesday, as sustained smoke levels pushed air quality into the “unhealthy” category.
But Randy Ashley, air quality specialist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said conditions were “pristine since the rains came through.” Particulate counts dropped from 200 to about 10 in the hour after the storm, he said.
And the air certainly cleared north of Polson, after a couple hours of cool, wet weather blew through the north Flathead.
Air quality in Kalispell was approaching the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” classification early in the day (a step down from “unhealthy”), but cleared to “good” following the storm.
It was evidence, officials said, of the fact that conditions can change rapidly, and they encouraged people to use visibility as a guideline to assess air quality at any given time and place. (Information on how to do that can be found at www.co.missoula.mt.us/
EnvHealth/.)
“Some people were surprised,” by the smoke, Colburn said, “because we haven't had that many fires in the area. But this is smoke all the way from Idaho and other places southwest of town.”
In fact, land managers on the Nez Perce National Forest are fighting the 1,500-acre Porcupine fire and the five-acre Nut Basin fire, and are monitoring the Diamond fires. On the Clearwater National Forest, they're monitoring the 80-acre Storm fire, the 40-acre Flame fire, the five-acre Middle Ridge fire, the eight-acre Sheep Hill fire and the one-acre Wallace fire.
(Check out www.fs.fed.us/r1/nezperce/gvc/ for detailed information about those Idaho fires.)
Closer to home, the Latham fire - burning five miles northeast of Elliston - was spotted at 6 a.m. and contained by 9 a.m. Crews reported it burning on a half-acre of private land, in a logging unit strewn with heavy fuels.
“Firefighters were able to get to this fire quickly this morning,” said Cindy Super, fire information officer for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. “We don't expect (Tuesday's) red-flag weather to cause too many problems, but we are still being extremely careful.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
And on the Bitterroot National Forest, 17 fires continue to smolder, although Tuesday's heavy smoke prevented land managers from getting a good look at those blazes. The hope there is that higher humidity levels may have knocked back fire growth.
Cooler and wetter conditions are expected, but until then the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning into early Wednesday.
No closures or restrictions have been ordered on the Bitterroot, but travelers are warned of limited access on Hells Half Road, due to the Hells Half Saddle fire.
The Red Quill fire, sparked Tuesday on private land west of Florence, is estimated at 15 acres.
Others on the Bitterroot include: the half-acre Big Creek Fire, two miles west of Big Creek trailhead; the half-acre Kootenai Creek fire, in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness west of Stevensville; the one-acre South Fork of Big Creek fire, in the wilderness west of Victor; the half-acre Arastra fire, east of Stevensville on the ridge between Grizzly and Arastra creeks; the 40-acre Kidney Lake fire, on the Darby Ranger District; the 40-acre Cooper Point fire, near Paradise; the Wapiti fire, reportedly “creeping around, covering approximately 15 acres”; the Schofield and Schofield II fires, each about an acre; The Lake Loma fire, on 10 acres between Sawtooth and Blodgett; the tiny Lunch and Eagle creek fires; the Wood Hump fire, burning actively on 2,200 acres in the upper reaches of the Selway River; and the 1,000-acre Hells Half Saddle fire, in the Magruder Corridor of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.
Also in the Bitterroot Range, the Indian Creek fire is cooking through the proposed Great Burn Wilderness, about 35 miles west of Missoula. That fire grew to about 60 acres Monday night, and is predicted to continue spreading amid high temperatures and low humidity.
Crews are monitoring the lightning-sparked blaze, but allowing it to burn for ecological reasons.
Officials on the Flathead National Forest are monitoring five more such wildfires, all ignited by lightning nearly two weeks ago.
The Wildrose fire, in the Great Bear Wilderness, now covers 20 acres. The Shale Mountain fire, in the Bob Marshall Wilderness northeast of Big Prairie, remains at less than one acre.
The Cardinal Peak fire, also in the Bob Marshall, is 13 miles east of the Summit Lake Overlook along Highway 83, and at 230 acres is sending up a smoke column visible from the Seeley Lake area.
The Jumbo Point fire, in the Bob Marshall east of the Cardinal Peak fire, is burning on less than one acre.
And the Triangle fire, two miles south of Highway 2 and 10 miles northeast of Hungry Horse, is estimated at 270 acres, well within the boundaries of the Great Bear Wilderness. Crews said it's burning at high elevation, and helicopters are dousing the eastern side to steer the blaze.
That fire has forced the closure of the Great Bear Creek Trail, No. 328.
“If the fire poses undue risk,” said Hungry Horse District Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera, “then additional management activities will be implemented.”
For now, however, he said crews will continue to manage the fire for ecological benefits.
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