Lightning strikes start small fires on the Flathead

Fires will be managed for suppression

Lightning strikes on Sunday, July 22, hit more than 100 places in the Flathead National Forest and ignited at least seven new fire starts.

All seven fires are in the Spotted Bear Ranger District — five in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and two outside of wilderness. Lightning-caused fires can smolder for days and not take off until conditions are right, including hot and windy weather.

Fire managers plan to suppress all these fires. Forest officials conducted aerial detection flights on Monday, July 23, to estimate the size of the fires. As of Monday afternoon, fires included:

Inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

Black Bear Hump — less than 0.1 acre, contained

Sarah Peak — less than 0.1 acre, contained or controlled

Upper Bartlett — less than 0.1 acre, initial attack

Snow Peak — 8 acres, initial attack

Brownstone — 0.25 acre, initial attack

Outside of wilderness

Green Mountain — 0.1 acre, contained

Spotted Bear Mountain — 0.1 acre, contained or controlled

While the Flathead area experienced a wet spring, fuels can dry out very fast when weather conditions are hot and dry. Forest users are reminded to put their campfires dead out and use caution with all possible ignition sources.

As of 3 p.m., July 24, the only active fire on the Flathead Forest was the Snow Peak fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. It is estimated at eight acres, and eight wildland firefighters were on the scene. It is expected to be contained by Wednesday and mop-up will take a couple of additional days.

Forest officials expect all other fires to be controlled by the end of Tuesday, July 24. Additional fires from lightning strikes over the weekend may be discovered over the next few days as weather conditions turn dry or hot.