Lots of bad fires throughout the Rockies but the Lolo Creek fire affects a member:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/3683/20562/
John, if you’re able to read this, I hope you, your loved ones and everyone in the area are safe.
Regards,
Scott
Monday morning we went looking for …
… in the West Fork Butte area.
Just after noon, as we were leaving, I took this pic of the West Fork II Fire …
… not long before it blew up. ( West Fork II is the small fire in the foreground. The School House fire is the big one in the distance. )
We drove home through this area …
… about an hour and a half before the fire exploded across U.S. 12[b].
[/b]Last night we were under a pre-evacuation notice, but after the fire took another really strong run the wind finally died down, and what wind there was was blowing the fire north of our place. Right now it looks like we are in the clear, although the smoke is so thick that visibility is limited to about a quarter mile, or less.
Very interesting lesson from all this - regardless of good planning, you can end up in a disaster. I knew the West Fork II fire was there before we headed out for some huckleberrying. Checked the maps for locations, terrain, and access / escape and checked the weather for conditions, wind, and wind direction. It was all good to go.
The thing is, they don’t tell you about the inversion. The wind had been howling in the trees most of the time we were up in the hills but an inversion was keeping it from getting down to ground level where West Fork II was burning. Which is why the fire looked so timid when I took the pic. About the time we headed for home, the inversion lifted, the wind raced downslope at something like 40 mph, and completely blew up that little fire.
The Lolo Complex Fire has burned somewhere around 8,000 acres as of this morning. The flames were visible from the higher elevation Missoula neighborhoods last night. But the weather is beginning to cooperate and the wild land fire fighters should be able to start getting a handle on it today.
Thanks for asking, Scott.
John
Be safe, John.
When USFS assigns a Type 1 Incident Management team they mean business. Looks like Mother Nature’s got mixed blessings in store - rain Thurs-Fri, but possibility of lightning, too. Stay safe.
Regards,
Scott
Stay safe. I miss huckleberries.
Rick
That’s what Southwestern Colorado looked like while we were there last summer. Be safe John. Jim
Yikes John! let me echo the safe wishes…
Hey guys we have the Emigrant fire that we can see from our RV in Gardiner (maybe 10-15 miles from us) that skipped Six Mile Creek a couple of days ago.
Here are a couple of photos from the campsite…
I hope everyone says safe. John I’m glad you are Okay…
… pretty good this morning.
The Lolo Creek Complex is now the number 1 fire fighting priority in the country. That means we are getting all kinds of assets to fight it. Yesterday the biggest risk to our property was having one of the planes or choppers dropping retardant on the fire fall out of the sky and land on the house.
The weather, in terms of temperature, humidity, wind and wind direction, and some prospects for rain later today and tomorrow, is being very cooperative. Couldn’t hardly ask for better conditions as forecast on this side of the fire. The easterly winds, however, could cause some problems on the west side of the fire, but there is much less in the way of housing and other development in that direction.
If anything dramatic does develop in the immediate Lolo area, there is a very large number of fire trucks on standby to deal with structure fires.
The weather forecast is not so good farther south in the Bitterroot. Red Flag warnings from a little way down the valley all the way south to Idaho. Wind and potential thunderstorms, with or without rain, in that direction later today and into tomorrow.
Thanks for the concern and safe tidings.
John
P.S. Rick - the huckleberrying was great. But it may be a while before we can get back to it.
Good to hear assistance is coming to the area to fight the fire. Be safe, John and others.