Wildfires merge, fire danger elevated to high

The fires at Rapid Creek and Prisoner Lake in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex merged together to cover a total of 5,000 acres on Monday night.

Both fires were caused by lightning. The Rapid Creek fire is on the east side of the wilderness, 27 miles west of Augusta, while the Prisoner Lake fire is on the western edge, 25 miles east of Condon.

The Rapid Creek fire first was sized up at less than one acre at midday Sunday, but in a few hours it grew to 500 acres and by Monday morning it was estimated at 1,000 acres.

The fire followed an unburned corridor and moved east toward Straight Creek, with the possibility of burning into the heavily traveled Benchmark Corridor in the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Northwest of the Rapid Creek fire, a new fire was detected Monday afternoon in the wilderness and quickly became a major blaze. The Prisoner Lake Fire, burning north and northwest of the Rapid Creek Fire, was estimated to be 3,000 acres Monday night, compared to 175 acres Monday afternoon.

The Rapid Creek Fire has been churning through heavy, beetle-killed timber across the Flathead Forest’s boundary with the Lewis and Clark National Forest, where it burned into the 700-acre Elbow Pass Fire and the 200-acre Triple Divide Fire by Monday afternoon.

A management team was expected to arrive Tuesday to take command of what is now called the Elbow Pass Complex.

When fire activity picked up Monday afternoon, the fires were putting off towering smoke columns that could easily be seen from the Flathead Valley into the evening Monday.

The fires are targeted for suppression but they have been difficult to reach, said Wade Muehlhof, public affairs officer for the Flathead National Forest.

“The complex is being managed for suppression but rough terrain and unfavorable weather conditions are limiting our ability to apply resources,” he said.

In past years, the Forest Service has generally allowed a considerable number of fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex to burn for resource benefits. That’s not the case this year.

“It’s still relatively early in the season and with limited budgets, a hard look is being taken at all fires and where possible, they are being managed for suppression,” Muehlhof said. “We’ve had such big fires in other parts of the country that it’s really affected the budget for what we have here.”

Fires are being suppressed, even in the wilderness, to keep them from becoming larger and more expensive to manage.

“Each fire is still being evaluated, but there is an emphasis that if it’s safe to do so, more fires will be managed for suppression,” Muehlhof said.

Elsewhere on the Flathead Forest, the Coal Creek Fire in the North Fork Flathead drainage was contained at 3 acres.

The Condon Mountain fire on the Swan Lake Ranger District was spotted Monday and was estimated to be at 15 acres as of Tuesday, it is about four miles east of Condon.

A three-acre fire on Pentagon Mountain in the wilderness was at 3 acres and being suppressed by 13 firefighters.

On Monday, the Flathead National Forest elevated the fire danger to high.