Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Local fire control organizations are winning the war with wildfires – for now at least.

Several new fires were discovered and dealt with in Sanders County last week. The lastest was discovered Tuesday in the Mandy Gulch area about 25 miles up Thompson River outside Thompson Falls. A Department of Natural Resource and Conservation (DNRC) air patrol flight discovered the fire, which was estimated to be about 10 acres. Helicopters and a firefighters were dispatched to address the fire.

Smoke from a few large fires in Idaho which drifted into our area and caused several fire reports also had firefighters busy looking for fires in the past several days.

Discovered Tuesday evening (July 30) of last week, the Tornilla Creek fire quickly grew to 52 acres that first night as heavy machinery was used to successfully construct a fireline around the edge of the blaze. The fire was contained that first night and has been in mop-up mode ever since.

Of undetermined origin, the Tornilla Creek fire was carried in large part by red logging slash created by an active timber sale in the area. Timber harvest equipment on site was utilized to build the fireline.

As of Monday, about 10 firefighters, three engines and a water tender were still assigned to the Tornilla Creek fire but operations were definitely winding down.

In the west end of the county, Cabinet Ranger District personnel were also in the process of wrapping up operations on a quarter-acre, lightning-caused fire in the head of Goat Creek in the Green Mountain area. Camping out on the incident, firefighters were expected to stay on the fire until it was 100% out early this week.

Although there has not been much wildfire activity in Sanders County recently, some fires in Idaho did produce a flurry of action locally as smoke reports prompted managers to send firefighters afield looking for those fires. It turns out that the smoke columns that could be seen were actually farther away than they appeared and no new local fires were found.

The fires causing the majority of the smoke in this area and in the Superior/St. Regis area were believed to be the Mica Creek and Lick Creek incidents in the Avery area.

A heavy helicopter complete with water tank and snorkel was observed in the Thompson Falls area Monday and had residents concerned about a new fire in this area. It turns out that the aircraft was being staged here before being sent to a new fire in the Clark Fork area called the Mosquito Creek Complex.

Wildfire season has been relatively slow in Sanders County so far this summer but fire activity has been picking up elsewhere in western Montana.

The Horsefly fire near Lincoln exploded to an estimated 1,500 acres in only a few hours after being discovered Monday afternoon. The cause of that fire has not been determined.

Outside of Missoula, the Lolo National Forest continues to manage the 347-acre Beeskove fire, a lightning-caused blaze burning in very difficult terrain.

Complicating the issue for Missoula firefighters, two new lightning-caused fires were discovered in the Lolo Creek drainage early this week. One of those fires was estimated at 10 to 15 acres and the other at 3 to 4 as of Tuesday morning.

Personnel from the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District were supporting efforts as of early this week on those Missoula-area fires, in the form of hand crews, engines and supervisors.

In the Helena area, the North Hills fire has consumed 5,019 acres in the past few weeks, but containment on that fire was estimated at 90% Tuesday morning. The North Hills fire was believed to be started by an exploding target.

Human-caused fires are a growing concern as the wildfire season continues. A Lolo NF law enforcement officer and forest protection officer patrolling the Thompson Falls area this past weekend found several abandoned campfires, including one at a dispersed camp site with no fire ring around it.

The offending party was located and ticketed for that offense, but the potential for similar starts from careless campers or other forest users like firewood cutters or huckleberry pickers remains.

Although the fire danger is rated at “Very High” across Sanders County, no fire restrictions have been put in place as of yet.

For breaking wildfire news or updates on existing fires, please visit the Sanders County Wildland Fire Information Facebook page as efforts are being made to keep that page as current as possible.