News Release 08/17/07 8:00am MT
Incident: Skyland Wildland Fire
Released: 8/17/2007
- Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 · 8 a.m. -
Quick Fire Facts
Location
32 miles ESE of Kalispell, MT
Approximate Size
40,704 acres
Increase since last update
156
Fire Containment
60%
Start Date
July 23, 2007 - 4:30 pm
Cause
Lightning
Incident Commander
Jeff Pendleton, PNW Team 3
Resources on the Fire
16 crews
5 helicopters
1 dozer
9 water tenders
21 engines
Total Personnel
720
Est. Containment Date
unknown
Cooperating Agencies
USFS
NPS
BIA
Blackfeet Tribe
Montana DNRC
Landowners
USFS
Blackfeet Tribe
Private
Yesterday's Activities:
Fire activity was light on Thursday, due to lower than expected temps and passive winds out of the east. In the south
end, conditions were favorable for burnout operations north of Badger Cabin. Hand crews continued to strengthen the
fireline on the northern and eastern perimeter.
Weather and Fire Behavior Forecast for Today:
Expect another partly cloudy day on Friday with isolated chance
for thunderstorms this afternoon into this evening. Relative
humidity will drop to 18-23% in the valleys, and remain at 25 to
30% above 6000 feet. Light southwest winds will prevail today,
gusting to 25mph on the ridge top. Smoldering and low intensity
surface spread with isolated torching is expected throughout the
fire area.
Today's Planned Actions:
Burnout operations will continue north of Badger Cabin in an
attempt to extend the contingency fireline down to the Continental
Divide. Work will continue on rehabilitation efforts on the western
and eastern flanks. Crews will continue with patrol & mop-up
work.
Special Notices, Alerts, Restrictions & Evacuation Levels:
All entrances to Glacier National Park are open. U.S. Hwy 2
remains open with a speed restriction in the fire area, and short
delays when helicopters fly over the highway. Visit
www.nps.gov/glac for more information.
For fire restrictions, visit www.mt.blm.gov/fire/restrictions. Much
of the Rocky Mountain Ranger District is closed to public use.
There are closures in the Hungry Horse Ranger District as well.
Evacuation Level 1 (notification) is still in effect for Little Badger
and Evacuation Level 2 (preparation) is in effect for the U.S. Hwy.
2 Corridor and Glacier Acres.
Visit www.inciweb.org and click on Skyland Fire for details, or call
the ranger districts - Hungry Horse (406) 387-3800; Rocky
Mountain (406) 466-5341.
Please see printable format under Related Article Links for additional closure information.
Prepared by: Information Section, PNW Incident Management Team 3 and approved by the Bob Marshall Joint Fire Information Center.
