Mother Nature sparks several reservation fires

By B.L. Azure

RONAN — Heretofore in the 2008 fire season on the Flathead Indian Reservation Mother Nature’s humanoid offspring have been the main culprits in on-Rez fire starts. However this past weekend Mother chimed in and sparked 18 lightning-caused fires. Two other fires were person-caused. Most were quickly controlled and extinguished with five remaining active late Tuesday afternoon.

The largest fire - the Deep Draw fire - west of Elmo near Highway 28 has grown to an estimated 1,000 acres as of Tuesday morning, according to Rich Janssen, fire information officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire. In the same vicinity, the Deep Draw 2 fire is estimated at 500 acres. “The fire, located on tribal lands has steep rocky terrain with scattered pockets of windblown down and dead timber with intermittent older logging units,” Janssen said.

The Northern Rockies Interagency Command Team led by incident commander Glenn McNitt has taken control of management of the fire.

“Our main concern besides the actual fire is the smoke on Highway 28,” said Curt Matt, CSKT DOF information and education officer. “We have parked our information trailer along the highway near Elmo advising people to take alternate routes.”

More than 100 firefighting personnel are assigned to the fire including 20-person Type 2 fire crews from Ronan, Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation, Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and Blackfeet Indian Reservation as well as the Carson, Nev. and Smokey Bear Hotshots.

“More resources have been ordered and should arrive today,” Janssen said. Several dozers, one skidgine, six type 6 engines and two structural protection engines are being utilized with Ronan, Arlee and Polson volunteer fire departments, CSKT Forestry and private contractors.

“The westerly winds picked up Monday afternoon and caused a lot of havoc at the Deep Draw fire,” Matt said. “It is supposed to be hot the rest of the week so I suspect we will be pretty busy around here.”

On Monday, four new fires were reported in the Revais Creek drainage near Dixon and the Garceau Gulch area west of Polson. One has grown to an estimated 10 acres as crews have begun containing those fires.

“The two active fires in the Revais drainage should be out by late Tuesday,” Matt said. Thirteen DOF firefighters responded and held both fires to less than an acre total. “The Garceau area fire was caused by sparks from a logging truck. We were able to nip them in the bud because of quick response.”

The fire index on the reservation and western Montana is now “Extreme.” That is the highest rating before Stage-1 and Stage 2 wildland-use restrictions are declared. Beyond that are land closures and travel restrictions in the closed areas.

“We continue to caution people to be careful with the use of fire especially campfires,” Matt said. “Our big concern is off-road vehicles in the grasses which are so high and dry that any little spark could start a fire.”

For more information or to report a fire, call CSKT Division of Fire at 676-2550.