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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A. Beatty on March 14, 2008 at 3:49am

FACTS ABOUT THE 12 LARGEST MONTANA FIRES
August 25, 2000

Information compiled by John Gatchell of Montana Wilderness Association from the Northern Rockies (Interagency) Coordination Center.

Regarding the 12 largest fires currently burning in Montana:

* 9 of 12 are burning primarily in roaded, logged and developed areas.

* The 12 largest fires have been ignited by lightning, grain harvesting, hot ATV exhaust, Plum Creek Timber Co.logging operations, suburban barbeques and activities on mining claims.

* The 5 most destructive fires --defined as fires which have destroyed homes and other structures-- all 5 are in roaded, logged and developed areas.

* The 3 large wilderness/backcountry fires have burned more slowly than heavily roaded, developed and extensively logged fire areas in the Valley Complex, Toston Maudlow, Canyon Ferry, High Ore Road or fires on Plum Creek Timber Co. lands in Ryan Gulch, (near) Lolo Pass and Nemote Creek.

I spoke with R-1 Regional Forester Dale Bosworth about the drought/fire situation on Wednesday, Aug 23. Forester Bosworth explained the necessity of additional public land closures. Bosworth stressed his view that roadless fires are "not the problem," and seem to be operating within normal historical fire patterns. He attributed this to the fact that most roadless areas are higher, cooler mountain sites,with much less frequent fire regimes than lower elevation sites.

Historical fire regimes in extensively-roaded, lower elevation fire areas such as the Valley Complex, High Ore Road, Canyon Ferry, Ryan Gulch, Ninemile, Thompson Flats or Toston-Maudlow may average 1 fire in 15 or 20 years. These are semi-arid sites, typified by sage, grassland, Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir (and rural subdivisions).

According to the Regional Forester, such sites may have skipped "5 or 6" natural fire cycles due to fire suppression of the last 90 years.

By contrast, roadless fire areas such as Monture, Middle Fork, or Mussigbrod are in higher elevation sites where the historical fire frequency may only average 1 in 100 or 200 years. (see observations by fire scientist Steve Barrett below)

These sites are little affected by past fire suppression.

August 25, 2000
MONTANA'S 12 LARGEST FIRE AREAS

1) Valley Complex Fire: 155,600 Fire area includes heavily roaded and logged areas, including 11,000 acres of Darby Lumber Co.Lands purchased by a loan from the state of Montana. Portions of the fire area have logging road densities of 6.6 miles of roads per square mile.On Aug 6, an inversion lifted resulting in a major firestorm over Darby Lumber Co lands east of Darby. Eight seperate fires converged. Evacuations. 74 homes destroyed. Ignited by multiple lightning strikes July 31.

2) Maudlow-Toston Fire: 77,000 acres started by grain harvesting operations on August 16. Fire raced explosively through parched crops, agricultural lands, roaded and logged areas. Evacuations. One house destroyed.

3) Canyon Ferry Complex Fire: 43,947 acres. Two man-caused fires erupted almost simultaneously on a hot and windy Sunday afternoon, July 23. "Bucksnort" was ignited by a rural subidivision resident dumping charcoal briquettes in a ditch near his house and the other source is suspected to be a hot ATV exhaust in popular ORV "play area" of Cave Gulch. These fires burned through subdivisions, roaded lands, private lands, private leased lands and well-roaded Helena N. Forest lands. Evacuations now over. 13 homes destroyed.

4) Skalkaho Complex Fire: (54,700 acres) Ignited July 31 by multiple lightning strikes. Has burned roaded and logged lands, as well as portions of roadless lands. Although this fire is listed seperately, 36,000 acres (Bear) were listed in the Valley Fire Complex. The new seperate listing may reflect changes in FS fire command. No structures destroyed.

5) Mussigbrod Fire: 33,500 acres. Ignited by multiple lightning strikes July 31. Has burned some roaded but is primarily in roadless, backcountry areas. No structures destroyed.

6) Middle Fork Fire: 32,410 acres. Ignited by lightning strikes on Aug 2. Burning in Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. No structures destroyed.

7) Nine Mile Complex Fire: 26,355 acres. Ignited by lightning strikes on Aug.3. Burning through very heavily-roaded and logged areas on near Alberton, MT, including Plum Creek Timber Co. lands on Nemote Creek. Evacuations. No structures destroyed to date.

8) Monture Creek Fire: 21,800 acres. Two fires, Upper Monture and Spread Creek, ignited by multiple lightning strikes July 13. Burning in remote backcountry and Bob Marshall Wilderness. No structures destroyed.

9) Stone-Young Fire: 19,270 acres. Ignited by lightning on Aug 11. Burning through roaded and logged areas, Kootenai NF. Evacuations. No structures destroyed.

10) Clear Creek Divide Fire: 18,917 acres. Ignited by lightning on Aug 4. Burning through extensively roaded and logged areas. 40 homes threatened, but no structures destroyed to date.

11) Ryan Gulch Fire: 17,118 acres. Started by Plum Creek logging operations on Aug 2. Burning through extensively roaded and logged areas, including Plum Creek Timber lands. 35 homes threatened. Two outbuildings destroyed.

12) Boulder Complex Fire: 12,604 acres. Two fires,both man-caused,under investigation, and started the afternoon of Aug 2 near Boulder, MT. The much more active and dangerous "High Ore Road Fire" started in a patented mining claim north of Basin, MT. The Boulder Hill fire ignited the same afternoon above Interstate 15. Boulder Hill moved east away from the Interstate into the Elkhorns,including both roaded and backcountry areas. High Ore Road Fire rampaged north across developed rural areas in lower elevation foothills east of the Continental Divide, burning through Wickes and forcing evacuation of Jefferson City. Evacuations lifted. 9 structures destroyed.

OTHER FIRES OF NOTE:

13) Thompson Flat Complex: 11,553 acres. Ignited by lightning August 4. Burning in heavily roaded and logged areas near Superior and St Regis,Montana. 60 homes threatened. No structures destroyed.

14) Blodgett Trailhead: 10,370 acres. Man-caused fire started off Blodgett Canyon Road on July 31, fives miles northwest of Hamilton, MT. Burned residential areas in urban interface before moving west into portions of four canyons --Canyon, Blodgett, Mill and Sheafman-- toward the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Evacuations lifted. 3 homes and 3 structures destroyed.

* Crooked Fire. 4,600 acres. Ignited by Plum Creek logging operations on July 28 in Crooked Creek (Idaho) and burned hot through extensively roaded and logged lands, restricting travel over Highway 12 near Lolo Pass. This fire has cost $5,232,000. Noted fire scientist Stephen Barrett (Kalispell,Montana) made this observation:

" I recently passed through the Crooked Fire on Lolo Pass, which contains a dense, subalpine forest long subject to industrial logging. In non-clearcut areas, recent removal of larch and other understory trees left behind an unnaturally-sparse spruce-fir understory. Despite this thinning--perhaps because of it--such sites still experienced severe fire. Heavy logging in subapline forests can promote an unnatural fuel drying, making an area more prone to ignition and rapid fire spread. By contrast, at least when I saw it, the fire was burning less intensively and less uniformly in adjacent unlogged (heavily-shaded) stands." --"Logging and fires," letter, Aug 17 Missoulian.

* NWLOIA Complex: 1,210 acres. Ignited by lightning on Aug 13 and burning through logged and roaded Plum Creek Timber Co. lands, six miles west of Lakeside, MT.

* Elk Mountain: 1,051 acres.Ignited by lightning Aug 5 and burning 30 miles east of Libby in logged and roaded lands.

* Troy South. 4,400 acres. 48 fires ignited by lightning Aug 10 near Troy,MT.

* Kootenai Complex: 10,200 acres. Multiple fires ignited by lightning Aug 12 in the extensively logged and roaded Upper Yaak River Valley.

Permalink Reply by Mike on April 2, 2008 at 10:10pm

Hmmmm random huh... I like hot Montana fire fighting women.

Permalink Reply by froGido on September 19, 2008 at 3:58pm

Hey if anyone reads this and is in the area, they are having a benefit for the fire department in Clarkston on Saturday the 20th. Clarkston is outside of Logan. If anyone feels up to it they really could use our support. I am not sure about all the details, but it is from 1 pm to 5 pm. Maybe we will see you there.