Incident: Skyland
Released: 8/28/2007
Yesterday's Activities:
Quick Fire Facts | |
Location | 32 miles ESE of Kalispell, MT-Skyland Road, 3 miles south of Marias Pass |
Approximate Size | 45,760 acres |
Increase since last update | None |
Fire Containment | 75% |
Start Date | July 23, 2007 - 4:30 pm |
Cause | Lightning |
Incident Commander | Tom Heintz |
Resources on the Fire | 7 crews 3 helicopters 1 dozer 3 water tenders 7 engines |
Total Personnel | 346 |
Est. Containment Date | unknown |
Cooperating Agencies | USFS NPS BIA Blackfeet Tribe Montana DNRC |
Landowners | USFS Blackfeet Tribe Private |
Crews continue to grid for spots, back-haul excess equipment, and complete assigned rehabilitation. There was still smoke showing throughout the day, and firefighters reacted to those locations when it popped up. There was continued single tree torching but the perimeter is solid and nothing of fire behavior was moving on the fire's edge.
Weather and Fire Behavior Forecast for Today:
A warming and drying trend is expected to begin today. Temperatures in the 65-70 degree range with more sunshine should make it a pleasant day. Relative humidity will be drier at 20-30%. Winds of 10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph will be similar to yesterday.
Today's Planned Actions:
Crews will continue to patrol, mop-up and perform rehabilitation activities throughout the fire. The many ATVs that have been utilized during fire suppression are being back-hauled to the base camp.
Cost to date of the fire is $17,282,000.
There have been some cattle grazing on the range in the Badger Creek area. Cowboys will ride in today to round them up and move them out of the fire area.
Planning is being initiated with the two Forests, the Blackfeet Tribe, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the smaller, local fire management organization that will be left in place as appropriate.
U.S. Hwy 2 remains open with a speed restriction in the fire area. All entrances to the Glacier National Park are open. Visit www.nps.gov/glac for more information.
Stage 2 fire restrictions are in effect for the area. 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.
Visit http://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.
