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Crews Set Blazes to Fight Mont. Wildfire

Posted on: Tuesday, 29 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

Firefighters started blazes with torches and incendiary bombs made of ping-pong balls Tuesday in a counterattack aimed at protecting West Glacier and a nearby village in Glacier National Park from an approaching wildfire.

The goal was to remove 2,000 acres of trees and other fuel from the path of the forest fire.

"Tonight, right now what you see as green will be gone," said Clinton Northway, supervisor of the effort.

West Glacier, which borders the park, was already mostly empty, save for emergency workers and about 60 residents who ignored Monday's order to leave. About 500 residents left Monday night, creating a traffic jam on the road out.

Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said the so-called "burnout" was going as planned, as wind pushed it toward the main fire. Combined with high humidity, conditions were perfect for the backfire.

"It looks good," said John See, a fire behavior specialist.

Officials said they wouldn't know if the burnout would stop the advancing wildfire until late Tuesday at earliest.

The wildfire, one of three in and around the park, burned across an estimated 12,100 acres by Tuesday morning. It was within 1 1/2 miles of West Glacier and moving in dense trees and rugged hills nearly inaccessible to fire crews. Firefighters worried it would make another run because humidity was extremely low and wind was expected to pick up.

The three Glacier fires had blackened a total of nearly 50,000 acres, and were being fought by some 2,000 firefighters.

Sirens wailed on Monday evening, warning residents, tourists and remaining National Park Service personnel at park headquarters to evacuate, mostly because the fire was threatening to block U.S. Highway 2, the main escape route. Thousands of tourists already had left other parts of the park.

Amtrak's Empire Builder passenger train was bypassing the West Glacier station. Additionally, air tankers were dumping thousands of gallons of water onto the trees near evacuated homes and business to make sure the burnout didn't turn on the town.

One of the Glacier fires, near the Canadian border, burned six dwellings and threatened about 100 other homes and cabins near the North Fork of the Flathead River. Another threatened historic buildings in the park, including the Granite Park Chalet.

In Washington state, temperatures climbed to over 100 degrees as firefighters battled wildfires that were burning on more than 80,000 acres Tuesday on the state's eastern side.

The fire, which swept across 12,000 rural acres about 50 miles west of Spokane, is believed to have started by a vehicle's catalytic converter, officials said.

Wildfires also were active Tuesday in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

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On the Net:

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

Glacier web cams: http://www.nps.gov/glac/whatsnew.htm

Glacier fire updates: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/fire/ciimt5/ac/

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