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—Firefighters using plastic sphere dispenser to set fires
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—Garden Creek Fire near Hot Springs 100 percent contained
Updated: Aug. 23, 1 p.m.
Firefighters in Glacier National Park are using Ping-Pong ball-like spheres full of fuel to ignite new fires to help battle the 10,323-acre fire burning on the west side of Lake McDonald.
The lightning-sparked Howe Ridge Fire has been burning since Aug. 11 and forced the evacuation of a large section of the park, including the upper Lake McDonald area and the Fish Creek Campground. A pre-evacuation warning has been issued for the Apgar Village area. The Going-to-the-Sun Road remains closed from Apgar to Logan Pass.
According to park officials, 94,247 acres, 141.8 miles of trail, and 47 miles of road are closed due to wildfires.
As of Thursday morning, the Howe Ridge Fire was 10 percent contained and continued to expand to the southwest, toward the Inside North Fork Road, the Fish Creek Campground and the Apgar Village. The fire was less than a mile from the Inside North Fork Road as of Wednesday afternoon.
The Inside North Fork Road has become the first line of defense for the settlements on the south end of Lake McDonald. Firefighters under the command of the Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team 2 have been clearing vegetation on either side of the road and even widening it in some places to make a more effective fire break. If the fire gets closer to the road, and conditions are favorable, fire managers are considering setting back burns to try and prevent the fire from coming into the Fish Creek area.
This week, firefighters have also been using a plastic sphere dispenser to launch fuel-filled Ping Pong balls from a helicopter to surgically set fires on the edges of the main blaze. Each ball comes with potassium permanganate powder inside. As the ball goes through the machine, glycol, the main ingredient in anti-freeze, is inserted into the ball and it bursts into flames just as it hits the ground.
By setting back burns or using the plastic sphere dispenser, firefighters can burn off fuel when conditions are right and hopefully stop the fire from spreading to areas they don’t want it to go.
The plastic sphere dispenser has been used at least twice this week: once near the Fish Creek Campground area and once on the north end of Lake McDonald. So far about 20 acres have been purposely set on fire.
The last time a plastic sphere dispenser was used in Glacier National Park was in 2003 while combating the Robert Fire, which burned more than 57,000 acres in the same area the Howe Ridge Fire is burning. At the time, Superintendent Mick Holm had to sign off on the plan to use the plastic sphere dispenser to set an even larger back burn. This time around, park officials have given the Type 1 incident management team the authority to do what is needed to battle the Howe Ridge Fire, however Assistant Superintendent Eric Smith said park officials are involved with every decision made regarding back burns and other firefighting tactics.
“It’s a real team effort between the fire management team and the land management team,” Smith said.
Firefighters continue to work on protecting structures around the fire. A sprinkler system was set up in the Fish Creek Campground area and a high volume water sprinkling system is being brought to the park this week and set up near the Lake McDonald Lodge. A similar system was used last year to protect the lodge from the Sprague Fire. On Wednesday, two CL-215 “Super Scooper” planes and multiple helicopters were used to douse hot spots around the fire.
Temperatures are expected to increase throughout the day and thunderstorms could impact the fire area on Friday.
As of Thursday, the fire has cost $2.3 million to suppress.
Fire managers have also revealed more information about just how many structures were lost when the Howe Ridge Fire made a stunning run on Aug. 12. At least 27 buildings were lost that night, including 13 homes (including both privately owned and those owned by the National Park Service) and 14 outbuildings.
At least four fires are currently burning on the Flathead National Forest. The Paola Ridge Fire has burned 578 acres near Essex. A public meeting about the fire is being held at 6 p.m. at the Izaak Walton Inn pavilion. The Coal Ridge Fire near Polebridge has burned 280 acres and is 2 percent contained. Firefighters hope to fully extinguish the blaze with water drops in the coming days. The Whale Butte Fire has burned 327 acres near Polebridge, forcing a pre-evacuation warning for a small number of homes. Further south, the Brownstone Fire has torched 2,342 acres in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
The Gold Hill Fire continues to burn north of Libby, prompting a pre-evacuation warning along Pipe Creek Road, between mile markers 11 and 13. As of Thursday morning, the fire has burned 1,920 acres. A public meeting about the fire is being held in Libby at 6 p.m. at the Ponderosa Room on Spruce Street. Other fires in Lincoln County include the 6,365-acre Davis Fire, the 681-acre Ten Mile Fire and the 1,265-acre Sterling Complex Fire.
On the Flathead Indian Reservation, firefighters have made significant progress against the 2,052-acre Garden Creek Fire north of Hot Springs, which as of Thursday morning was 100 percent contained.
This story will be updated when additional information becomes available.