Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Fire season continues to creep up on Sanders County.

Although the Moss Ranch fire burning southwest of Ronan is the biggest fire going in the county right now, the other firefighting organizations have dealt with several other fire starts over the past few weeks as well.

The Plains DNRC responded to two fires last week, limiting a lightning-caused blaze in Sears Gulch north of Plains to 2.3 acres and catching a small grass fire west of Plains at one-tenth of an acre. The fires were within the DNRC’s area of jurisdiction and the U.S. Forest Service assisted on both incidents.

Plains Unit manager Dave Olsen said the fire in Sears Gulch was discovered during a DNRC aerial detection flight following recent thunderstorms in the area. Aerial support from helicopters was utilized during operations on the Sears Creek fire, Olsen said.

Personnel from the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District supported suppression efforts on the two DNRC fires last week but no new starts were found on the Lolo National Forest, district Assistant Fire Management Officer (AFMO) Jon Airhart said Monday. Airhart said some district personnel are assigned to other fires in the western U.S. as of early this week.

In the West End, Cabinet Ranger District AFMO Dustin Pierson reports that his office has also responded to a few small fires recently.

On July 23, Cabinet RD personnel responded to and put down a one-tenth of an acre fire started by lightning along the Whitepine Creek road, and on the next day put out a roadside start along Highway 200 and also limited that fire to one-tenth of an acre.

Pierson said that the Cabinet RD has also sent a squad of firefighters to Libby to assist with the Canoe Gulch fire, and a 20-person crew to the Idaho Panhandle Forest to work on the Lunch Peak fire. He said there have been five fires on the Cabinet RD to date this summer, representing a total of 1.2 acres burned thus far.

On the east border of Sanders County, the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes continue working on the Moss Ranch fire, which was ignited by lightning last week. A press release from the CSKT Division of Fire listed the fire at 5,310 acres with 60% containment Monday.

A total of 170 personnel are working on the Moss Ranch fire, including three 20-person crews, one helicopter, eight fire engines, three single engine air tankers (or SEATs), four dozers, six skidgines, six water tenders, and an ambulance.

No structures or public infrastructure are threatened at this time by the Moss Ranch fire, CSKT officials said.

The Beeskove fire burning in the Rattlesnake Creek drainage east of Missoula was estimated at 115 acres as of Monday.

For more information on these fires, or information on any new fires that may break out locally, please visit the Sanders County Wildland Fire Information page on Facebook.