Wildfires a 'wake-up call' as officials warn of dry conditions
By GREG LEMON Staff Reporter
A small wildfire last week near Skalkaho Creek burned through green grasses and shrubs at an unusually quick rate, said Jack Kirkendall, fire management officer for the Bitterroot National Forest.
The fire was discovered Thursday afternoon on the north side of Skalkaho Highway near Centennial Nature Grove by a Forest Service employee, said Kirkendall. The employee initially attacked the fire on his own, but didn't have much success.
"Because of the dry conditions and the steepness of the slope the fire just moved too fast for him to gain control of it," he said.
Fire crews, along with two 750-gallon Forest Service engines, responded to the blaze within 30 minutes, and a helicopter was on scene two hours after the blaze started, said Kirkendall.
Firefighters from local ranger districts and the Bitterroot Hotshots worked on the blaze Thursday and Friday, he said. By the end of the day Friday there was no visible smoke on the five-acre fire.
But the worry is this time of year a fire like this shouldn't burn so quickly, said Kirkendall.
"It went five acres real fast."
Generally, fire season really begins statewide toward the end of June or in early July, but wildfires are beginning to spring up already in Montana.
There are two wildfires in eastern Montana that have burned more than 2,000 acres combined, according to the Incident Management Situation Report, published every day by the National Interagency Coordination Center.
Locally things are really dry, said Dixie Dies, public affairs officer for the Bitterroot National Forest.
"It's dry. It's dry everywhere, not just in the national forest, but on your ranch land, your yard - whatever it is you have, it's dry," she said.
It is important that people realize this year is different, said Dies.
"I don't know what it is that we can say or do to let people know that it's dry and they need to be careful."
To illustrate the point, Kirkendall remembers the summer of 2000 when crews were fighting fire at the snowline in late June. This year, they are encountering those same conditions now.
A prescribed fire on the West Fork Ranger District burned out of control lines this past weekend, said Kirkendall.
The fire was in the Johnson Creek drainage and burned 30-acres outside of what was prescribed to burn, said Dies. Fire crews were able to contain the escaped fire during the weekend, but it was another wake-up call, she said.
The prescribed fire was at about 6,500 feet, said Kirkendall. There was still snow on the north and east aspects and in the bottoms of the draws. But the areas that faced south and west were dry, he said.
"Those aspects that have received a lot of sun and a lot of heat in the past few weeks are primed and ready to go."
It was so dry that the roads near the prescribed burn, which are normally wet and somewhat muddy for several more weeks, were dusty and dry, he said.
This time of year, fire crews igniting prescribed fires can count on north and west slopes to be wet enough to use as containment lines, said Kirkendall, especially at the higher elevations. It isn't the case now.
"Given the current conditions that we have out there, you know we're shaping up to have a very active fire season at this point," he said. "But who knows. We still have a good month and a half before we can feel relatively comfortable with what the fire season is going to look like."
The wildfire near Skalkaho Creek was likely started by a ricocheting bullet, said Dale Brandeberry, law enforcement officer with the Bitterroot National Forest. This is only the third time he has seen this happen in his career. The other two times were later in the year.
"Usually we don't get (fires) in the spring from bullets," he said.
Brandeberry suspects the fire started when a bullet struck a rock. There was evidence that someone had recently been shooting in the area, he said.
"A piece of lead, when it hits something, gets very, very hot," he said.
Though the ignition looks accidental, Forest Service officials would still like to speak to the person who was shooting in the area on Thursday.
"We'd like to find out who it is. It may be that it was criminal, but more than likely it's not."
But the main thing is that fire behavior will be active earlier this year if the weather stays drier than normal, said Kirkendall. So people need to prepare for a long fire season. He suggests landowners who have some fuel reduction work on their property make the effort to get it done soon.
"Maybe it's one of those things they'll want to take an little more seriously this year," he said. "It could get dangerous out there in another month or two if this keeps up."
Reporter Greg Lemon can be reached at 363-3300 or at glemon@ravallirepublic.com.
|
|
|
Reader's Comments >>