BigHornyRam
New member
The area I was planning on putting up my hunting camp is on fire. I don't think this one will be going out soon. A lot of deadwood in steep inaccessable terrain. This fire needed to happen, but I wish it happened in the spring or fall, not the dead of summer. The fire crews have set up camp right across the road from my place. 175 fire fighters with more on their way.
Paul
Plains fire grows to 2,000 acres
By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian
Strong afternoon winds grounded helicopters and slurry bombers working the Cherry Creek fire near Plains on Sunday, as the fire grew from 550 acres to 2,000 acres in a few hours.
"We had a pretty good wind event," said John Hamilton, a fire information officer. "We pulled off the helicopters and planes about 2:30, and then the firefighters as well. The fire was just too hot to be around."
"Today was not a real good day for us," he said.
About 165 firefighters and four helicopters were working the fire, which is burning about 15 miles southwest of Plains and 10 miles southeast of Thompson Falls in the Cherry Creek drainage.
The terrain is timbered and steep; a thicket of bug-killed lodgepole pine is feeding the fire.
"We're having a beetle outbreak, and it's providing quite a bit of fuel," Hamilton said. "It's not a good situation."
As the fire pushed over the top of Cherry Peak, smoke drifted north to Kalispell at the height of Sunday afternoon's burning, prompting calls from worried residents throughout the area. Fire managers will brief the community at two meetings Monday night - one at the fairgrounds pavilion in Plains at 5:30, the other at the Thompson Falls Community Center at 7:30.
And while the fire remains about seven miles from the nearest community, the Sanders County commissioners did issue a warning late Sunday to residents in the Eddy Creek area. Because there is but one road in and one road out of the drainage, residents need to be ready to evacuate should the fire start moving down the creek, the commissioners said.
There is no evacuation order, but people who need extraordinary care should be moved to a safer location, and residents might want to move big trucks, camper trailers and livestock.
Firefighters will "give it another shot Monday morning," Hamilton said. "But the forecast we have is for almost identical weather tomorrow, so we are anticipating another hold-onto-your-hat kind of day."
Paul
Plains fire grows to 2,000 acres
By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian
Strong afternoon winds grounded helicopters and slurry bombers working the Cherry Creek fire near Plains on Sunday, as the fire grew from 550 acres to 2,000 acres in a few hours.
"We had a pretty good wind event," said John Hamilton, a fire information officer. "We pulled off the helicopters and planes about 2:30, and then the firefighters as well. The fire was just too hot to be around."
"Today was not a real good day for us," he said.
About 165 firefighters and four helicopters were working the fire, which is burning about 15 miles southwest of Plains and 10 miles southeast of Thompson Falls in the Cherry Creek drainage.
The terrain is timbered and steep; a thicket of bug-killed lodgepole pine is feeding the fire.
"We're having a beetle outbreak, and it's providing quite a bit of fuel," Hamilton said. "It's not a good situation."
As the fire pushed over the top of Cherry Peak, smoke drifted north to Kalispell at the height of Sunday afternoon's burning, prompting calls from worried residents throughout the area. Fire managers will brief the community at two meetings Monday night - one at the fairgrounds pavilion in Plains at 5:30, the other at the Thompson Falls Community Center at 7:30.
And while the fire remains about seven miles from the nearest community, the Sanders County commissioners did issue a warning late Sunday to residents in the Eddy Creek area. Because there is but one road in and one road out of the drainage, residents need to be ready to evacuate should the fire start moving down the creek, the commissioners said.
There is no evacuation order, but people who need extraordinary care should be moved to a safer location, and residents might want to move big trucks, camper trailers and livestock.
Firefighters will "give it another shot Monday morning," Hamilton said. "But the forecast we have is for almost identical weather tomorrow, so we are anticipating another hold-onto-your-hat kind of day."
