All are "wildland fire-use" fires

Five Area Fires Contribute to Flathead Valley Smoke

By Kellyn Brown, 8-19-08

Smoke blanketing the Flathead Valley Tuesday morning was the result of five “wildland fire-use” fires burning in the area that were sparked by lightning about 10 days ago.

Wildland fire-use fires are allowed to burn so than can play their “natural role in the ecosystem,” according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The largest of the area fires is 200 acres, and the smallest is less than one acre. Three of them are burning in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The following are details of those five fires:

• The Wildrose Fire is burning on 10 acres, about two miles southwest of Three Forks in the Great Bear Wilderness.

• The Shale Mountain Fire is burning on less than one acre in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, about five miles northeast of Big Prairie.

• The Cardinal Peak Fire is burning on 100 acres in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, about 13 miles east of Summit Lake Overlook.

• The Jumbo Point Fire is burning less than one acre in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, about 25 miles east of Summit Lake Overlook.

• The Triangle Fire is burning on 200 acres in the Great Bear Wilderness, about 10 miles northeast of Hungry Horse. Firefighters are using helicopters to drop water on the east side of the fire.

There are also fires burning in Canada. [End of article]

Comment By CJ, 8-19-08

Seems rather STUPID to me to allow these fires to burn in this weather and when we KNOW that storms are coming that could cause many many more.

But this is typical of our “protective” agencies. Let’s all sit around and wait until there are 100 or 200 fires burning to try to stop it...real smart guys!

Comment By Red, 8-19-08

No, it’s not those fires that are leaving the smoke in the valley, by all appearances. See http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/resources/2008231/id-mt-000/crefl2_A2008231202604-2008231203458_250m_id-mt-000_143.jpg - it looks to be blowing up from fires south of here.

Comment By firewatcher, 8-19-08

CJ,

You’ve reduced a very complex situation to a very simplistic formula. The fire agencies have been struggling for years to come up with a fire policy that balances human needs and desires with the health of our western forests (and, yes, healthy forests need fire like they need rain). Not to mention balance their limited resources with fire suppression priorities. There are 73 fires burning in the West as I type. Would you prioritize a 100-acre fire burning in the remote reaches of the BOB? Would you be willing to pay the exorbitant fuel costs to run aircraft all day to fight it? Risk lives dropping smokejumpers all over the backcountry?

And our fire agencies have not been “sitting around.” They’ve been busting their asses since spring trying to protect homes in California and Oregon.

Comment By CJ, 8-20-08

I have read all about the fires in the west and I still say that our LITTLE 10 and 100 ACRE fires should be put out before they reach the level of the California fires. Our people should be putting out our fires. It doesn’t take 100 people on the line to put out a 10 acre or a one acre fire before it becomes the raging fire of the likes of 2003 which burned down thousands of acres in Glacier!

I am not suggesting that we pull out of Idaho and Ca but the all the smoke in our valley is NOT coming from there. We have our own fires to put out also before they end up like Idaho and California. And I don’t believe it is necessary to drop anything other than fire retardent or water on these small fires. I have seen a number of helicopters already doing that somewhere.

There are any number of ways to maintain the ecology of the forests but I do not believe burning thousands of acres is the answer. But then what do I know, I am just an old lady that has watched california fires up close and personal and in Oregon and now in Montana. If we weren’t logging at the same time we are burning maybe it would make sense. But we are and since trees are absolutely necessary to our worlds survival, I believe we need to have better “forest management”! Why not try a “simplistic formula” for a change. Who knows it might work.

This article was printed from flatheadbeacon.com at the following URL: http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/five_area_fires_contribute_to_flathead_valley_smoke/5099/