Grass fire up North Fork Road doused

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls firefighters jumped on a half-acre grass fire at Mile Marker 5 on Wednesday night (Aug. 15) up the North Fork Road.

The plume of smoke from the fire was visible from Nucleus Avenue, fire chief Bob Webber said.

Webber said crews had a line around it in about five minutes. The fire did get into the trees and a Blackhawk helicopter from the state Department of Natural Resources also dumped 2 1/2 loads of water on the blaze.

Webber said the cause of the fire was undetermined. It was not on the North Fork Road proper — but on a side road at the mile marker.

Webber said that fortunately the wind wasn't blowing on the fire, or it could have taken off.

"Our saving grace was there was no wind," he said.

The call initially came in as a plume of smoke above the Bark Plant.

The county is currently under a unified command system, where all agencies — the state, county, Forest Service and Park Service — are working together to put fires out.

This allows for a host of resources to provide initial attack services. For example, the county is split into five zones, and this area up to the Canadian border and to Marias Pass, is zone 1. Under the unified command protocol, there is a paid fire engine crew always available on standby to initial attack fires, as well as a hand crew and dozer.

Webber said they also went to another fire near new construction at Meadow Lake last week and last Saturday. They went to a fire off U.S. Highway 2 near LaSalle where an individual actually set a burn. That person now faces charges for violating fire restrictions.

Stage II fire restrictions are in effect. That prohibits all campfires, any sort of burning outside and smoking outside a vehicle or enclosed structure, like a building.