Deep Draw Fire: Fire Near Elmo Now 600 Acres

PABLO – Firefighters continued to battle a 600-acre wildfire Monday about three miles west of Elmo.

Wind gusts up to 40 mph caused flames to jump across the fire line Sunday, leaving the main blaze and a nearby 30-acre fire uncontained. Because the two fires are so close to one another, they are being fought as one blaze called the Deep Draw fire.

A spokesman for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Fire Department, Rich Janssen, says the fire is near Highway 28 on tribal land east of Elmo. It's burning in steep, rocky terrain that is home to scattered pockets of downed and dead timber.

Janssen says the terrain is filled with rattlesnakes, which has hampered firefighters.

He says no structures have burned, and none are in any immediate danger.