Firefighters make progress against blaze
WEST GLACIER, Mont. (AP) – Firefighters struck hard again Thursday to strengthen their burned-out barrier between an advancing wildfire and this gateway community to Glacier National Park. Fire managers were pleased with their gains, but cautioned that West Glacier, the park’s Apgar Village, the headquarters complex and hundreds of homes in the area were not yet completely safe. They urged displaced residents to remain patient.
Most of the 80-odd fire engines assigned to the fire guarded buildings just behind the barrier Thursday while firefighters burned out pockets of potential fuel that were missed Wednesday and the day before.
Firefighters torched a 3-mile-long stretch of grass and timber late Wednesday, adding to a 2-mile stretch that was backburned on Tuesday.
“What we did yesterday went a long way in tying off the fire and protecting those communities,” fire information officer Andy Williams said Thursday morning.
Incident commander Joe Stam said progress made over the next day or so will be key in determining when residents will be allowed back to their homes, beyond the eastern edge of the Robert Fire.
“We feel pretty confident with what we’ve done,” Stam told dozens of area residents at a community meeting in nearby Columbia Falls late Wednesday.
Backfires, or “burnouts,” also were made Wednesday on the west edge of the fire, which was estimated at 18,715 acres on Thursday. That indicated a gain of about 4,500 acres, but fire managers attributed much of that to the backfires.
The fire remained west of West Glacier, which has about 250 year-round residents and about 400 residents during the summer. About 500 residents of the town and the forested area along the edge of the park are out of their homes.
Burnouts are a common tactic used in wildland firefighting. Fire officials say the main fire creates a draft as it consumes oxygen, and that draws the backfire toward it.
This was visible Wednesday from the West Glacier golf course, where some people gathered to watch the plumes of smoke on the nearby mountain.
When the two fires meet, they have no more fuel to burn.
The fire is one of three major fires burning partly or wholly in the park. They total more than 50,000 acres and are being battled by more than 2,000 firefighters.
A second fire in extreme northwestern Montana and just six miles from the Canadian border has charred 21,374 acres and has also burned into the western edge of the park from the Flathead National Forest. I
t has destroyed six homes and 19 outbuildings and is still threatening about 100 homes and cabins near the North Fork of the Flathead River.
The third fire has burned about 18,600 acres on Flattop Mountain. The fire is now threatening some historic buildings, including the Granite Park Chalet.
Firefighters in Washington state, meanwhile, paused to remember a fallen comrade Wednesday, then battled scorching heat and conditions so dry that any spark could instantly start a new wildfire.
A memorial service was conducted at a fire camp for helicopter pilot Randall Harmon, of Grants Pass, Ore., who died in a crash Friday while dropping water on a fire on the Colville Indian Reservation.
The fire in the Pasayten Wilderness of north-central Washington grew about 2,000 acres on Wednesday to 71,570 acres, and was being fought by more than 1,000 firefighters.
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On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov