Type 3 Team Takes Command of Skillet Fire After Olney Area Evacuation Order
The uncontained wildfire in northwest Montana showed extreme behavior over the weekend, spewing smoke and prompting the arrival of a specialized incident command team
By Tristan Scott
The Skillet Fire in northwest Montana remained uncontained Sunday after displacing residents in the Olney area, where nearly 180 firefighters converged over the weekend as a specialized interagency team assumed command of the blaze.
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 1 issued the evacuation orders to portions of Good Creek Road, and to all residents on Alder Creek Road, Gregg Road and Old Good Creek Road. The blaze grew to an estimated 1,390 acres between Friday and Saturday; however, an infrared flight was not conducted Sunday so the reported acreage is not updated.
The Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team 7 assumed command of the Skillet Fire at 6 a.m. Sunday, signaling a transition from local resources to a national response as the fire grows in size, behavior and complexity.
With winds out of the west, heavy smoke drifted into the Flathead Valley from local fires as well as regional fires in Oregon and Washington.
The Skillet Fire remains most active on the northern edge along Alder Creek and is pushing north toward a burn scar from the 2023 East Fork Fire and away from homes and structures to the south, “which is good for us,” said Chad Olson, Operations Chief for the Skillet Fire, in a video posted Sunday as an operational update. “We don’t want it coming south.”
Crews worked to establish an anchor point on the east side of the fire Sunday and are looking for opportunities to construct line along the south and east edges of the fire while continuing to guide it north toward the burn scar.
“If we’re successful, we’ll be able to basically take this fire and keep shoving it to the north using whatever we can — roads, bridges, creeks — whatever opportunities present themselves,” Olson said, describing the containment strategy.
Due to heavy downed fuels from a December 2025 blowdown event that battered northwest Montana’s dense forests, access to much of the fire is difficult and poses a safety risk to firefighters, Olson said. The heavy downed timber from the blowdown event is producing extreme fire behavior and making containment difficult.
“It’s not just small trees and brush, but big giant trees,” Olson said. “As far as getting crews in there — hand crews, saws, all that stuff — it’s dang near impossible. But the good news is we have lots of options with heavy equipment … that can help us remove that material.”
Crews and equipment will engage the fire where the risk to responders is low and the probability of success is high, Olson said, as public and firefighter safety remains the top priority.
A dry cold front arrived in the area Sunday as temperatures hovered between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit across the fire area. The front was forecast to bring winds out of the west with sustained speeds of 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 25 mph.
More information about smoke and air quality can be found on the Skillet Fire InciWeb.
The Flathead County Sheriff issued an Evacuation Order in the Good Creek/Alder Creek area. Current weather conditions and fire behavior present a threat for those areas. For questions regarding the Evacuation Order, call Sheriff’s Information line at 406-758-2111.
The Flathead and Kootenai National Forests issued an area closure for public and firefighter safety due to fire activity. The area closure includes roads, trailheads, trails, day use areas, and campgrounds. The closure order can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/flathead/alerts. There is also a temporary flight restriction in place to allow aviation resources to work safely in the fire area.