Lake McDonald Lodge closed for season

Officials issued an evacuation warning to some residents in the area between Moose Creek Road and Whale Creek Road Friday due to threats by the 100-acres Whale Butte Fire. Flathead County Sheriff deputies began notifying affected residents directly, and other citizens in the area were advised to avoid this area, allowing the firefighters to operate safely. Fire managers redirected super scoopers to the fire to help hand crews and heavy equipment operators slow its growth.

The North Fork Road remains open, but citizens were advised to reduce speed throughout the area as smoke and emergency vehicles are in the area. The evacuation warning and map and future updates to this information can be found at the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services Facebook page.

An evacuation warning was also issued for all areas north of the Bowman Lake Road junction with the Inside North Fork Road, extending to Kintla Lake. According to the Glacier National Park website, there is a chance of evacuation within the next two days due to fire activity.
Residents within the warning area were advised to have an evacuation plan in place in the event of a short notice evacuation order.

Lake McDonald Lodge will remain closed for the remainder of the 2018 season due to fire activity, according to a spokesperson from Xanterra Travel Collection, the parent company over many of the lodges located around the park. Other lodges across the park remained open as of Friday and the red buses will continue to travel along the still open roads throughout the park, the spokesperson said.

Acreage on the Howe Ridge Fire remained at around 3,500 acres with no reported containment.
The fire remained active through Thursday night, with single tree torching and spotting producing some growth on the southwestern edge.
Additional spotting and growth were observed on the north edge of the fire on the southern slope of Mount Stanton as well as the northwest edge of the fire toward Rogers Lake.

All previously instituted evacuations and closures remained in place. Around 80 fire personnel continued containment efforts on Friday and the Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team under John Pierson was scheduled to take over the fire as of 6 a.m. Saturday.
Fire personnel working the Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park will call a community meeting Saturday at 6 p.m. in the little theater of the Columbia Falls High School.

Official planned to advise citizens on management plans for the Whale Butte, Howe Ridge, Coal Ridge and Paola Ridge fires.
The Flathead and Glacier National Park area increased fire traffic along Highway 2 and in the North Fork of the Flathead.
U.S. 2 has a reduced speed around the fire camp near the KOA at West Glacier, and smoke continued to reduce visibility.
A temporary flight restriction was placed on the fire area due to smoke and fire activity.

The 270-acre Coal Ridge Fire, also burning in the Flathead National Forest, showed minimal growth Thursday, allowing firefighters to use heavy equipment to create fuel breaks near structures to protect the Polebridge community and Home Ranch Bottoms.
The fire was expected to continue its spread along the edges and backing downslope on the north side toward Hay Creek and up toward Coal Ridge.

http://www.kpax.com/story/38902912/tourism-industry-leaders-reassure-visitors-about-gnp-fires

The pictures of Glacier National Park on fire are all over the Internet this week and tourism promoters are scrambling to explain that only a select portion of the park Glacier is closed now because of the Howe Ridge Fire. They’re not only offering reassurances, but asking Montana residents to help spread the word. Racene Friede of Glacier Country Tourism says the dramatic pictures of Sunday night’s blowup have spread across the Internet, leading some visitors to believe the entire park is ablaze.

“Our social feeds are full of very dramatic fire images right now," Friede said. "And while they’re beautiful, they do cause a little bit of alarm. And while we don’t want to take away from what is happening, fire is part of our story and a natural part of our ecology. It also can create some fear and trepidation with people who are coming here for their vacation and that they’ve been planning for years or for months so…”
The problem is created whenever Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed. In fact, this scenario is familiar. Last summer at this same time, the big Sprague Fire and other lightning-caused fires closed an even larger area.

Friede wants tourists to know the vast majority of the park is open, including all the scenic spots east of the Divide.
“Some people think when the Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed in any way the entire road is closed, and that’s just not the case," Friede said. "Logan Pass to St. Mary is totally open, along with the east side of Glacier National Park. So people really want to be able to go and visit that and it’s there for them.”

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/crews-prioritize-protecting-property-from-fires

WEST GLACIER, Mont. —

Summer is winding down, unless you’re at the Lake McDonald Lodge -- it’s remaining closed for the summer.
“It was a decision based not on anything specifically happening with the fire right now, but because they are in an evacuated area due to the fire,” Glacier National Park fire information officer Diane Sine said, explaining that the unpredictability of the fire created logistical complications for the lodge.

While the lodge is closed, it’s still standing -- and that’s the way fire crews plan to keep it.
Crews have added plumbing and sprinklers to protect the cabins at Kelly’s Camp and the Wheeler property. As more personnel arrive they’ll be able to direct more attention to the Lake McDonald Lodge as well, Sine said.

A Type 1 Incident Management Team out of the Southwest took command of fire operations Friday at 6 a.m. In addition to the Howe Ridge Fire, they’re leading efforts at the Paola Ridge Fire, the Coal Ridge Fire and Whale Butte Fire.
“Right now, we’ve got crews at all four fires, actively engaged,” Type 1 team operation section chief Beale Monday said.

One of the biggest challenges with the Howe Ridge Fire and other fires in the area is the landscape. “They’re high enough in the wilderness areas where we really can’t put firefighters in there because of heavy fuel loading, steep topography,” Monday said. “It’s going to take a big amount of moisture to really put these fires out.”

The Type 1 team has a GIS unit which allows them to study the topography and plan.
There’s no timeline on when the fires will be contained, but Monday said crews are working to direct them away from “values at risk.”
“Stuff that’s important to you, important to me, important to everyone that lives in this area,” Beale said. “So that’s what we’re really focusing on trying to protect.” The team has about 250 personnel, but more are arriving.

More at link.

The Guard had a way of scheduling drill weekend on the one weekend every month that I wanted to do something else.
I remember one year they actually tried to schedule drill for the weekend of super bowl Sunday. That got changed super fast after the annual training schedule came out. They figured rightly that half the guys would try to bail out early on Sunday if it wasn't changed

Fortunately, Elk season in MT is about two months long, counting the back country early season, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to get skunked again.

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/08/18/destroyed-cabins-welcomed-generations-glacier-park/

When the main cabin at Kelly’s Camp was built around 1910 on the shore of Lake McDonald, William Howard Taft was president, the RMS Titanic was still under construction in Belfast, England and Glacier National Park was the newest federal preserve in the nation.
More than a century of history was destroyed on Aug. 12, when the Howe Ridge Fire exploded into a 2,500-acre inferno, destroying a number of private homes and historic cabins along Lake McDonald, including several at the Kelly’s Camp Historic District.
The Kelly’s Camp Historic District included more than a dozen historic buildings on about 2,400-feet of waterfront on Lake McDonald. The main cabin, which the National Park Service confirmed was destroyed on Aug.12, dates back to the year the park was established and the rest were completed in the late 1910s and 1920s. All the cabins were built by Frank and Emmeline Kelly.

More at link.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/local_news/20180818/howe_ridge_fire_grows_to_4100_acres

he Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park continued to move slowly south and west overnight through heavy dead and down forest fuels, primarily from the 2003 Robert Fire, as it grew from 3,500 to 4,100 acres. Isolated thunderstorms were predicted to develop south and east of the fire area late Saturday, which could cause gusty winds and increases in fire behavior.

A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday where fire personnel will present management plans for Whale Butte, Howe Ridge, Coal Ridge and Paola Ridge fires at the Columbia Falls High School in the “little theater.” Friday, smoke from the fire prohibited planes and helicopters from dropping water on the fire. Structure protection efforts continued along the north end of Lake McDonald, using sprinkler systems around the remaining structures on North Lake McDonald Road.

Crews are installing hoses and sprinklers to minimize potential fire spread towards the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Fire managers will continue to proactively plan for protection of other areas as the fire progresses. Glacier National Park Lodges, the concessioner that operates Lake McDonald Lodge, has decided to close Lake McDonald Lodge for the rest of the 2018 summer season. Questions about adjustments to reservations should be directed to 855-733-4522. Privately owned Motel Lake McDonald has also closed for the season. Reservation holders should contact 1-844-868-7474.

Guided horse-back rides and boat tour operations in the Lake McDonald Lodge area are suspended until further notice. Commercial visitor services in most areas of the park remain open including Apgar Village, Two Medicine, St. Mary, and Many Glacier.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road is currently open from St. Mary to Logan Pass, but temporarily closed from Apgar to Logan Pass due to Howe Ridge Fire activity. That temporary closure includes the Lake McDonald Lodge Complex.

Evacuation orders remain in place for the North Lake McDonald road (private residences and the Lake McDonald Ranger Station), Lake McDonald Lodge area (all businesses, employees and private residences), private residences along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and Sprague Creek & Avalanche Campgrounds. The Inside North Fork road is closed and multiple trail closures are associated with this fire. Please see full trail closures on the park’s website: www.nps.gov/glac.



More at link.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - Justin Bilton and his 70-year old father were backpacking through Wyoming and Montana recently, and last weekend set up camp at their last stop in Glacier National Park. The next day, they noticed a lightning strike had started a small fire, which eventually turned into the 3,500-acre Howe Ridge Fire.

“I just had a bad feeling about it, and I was like ‘Dad, I think we need to get out of here,'” Bilton told TV station WHDH in Boston.
As the fire began to explode around them, Bilton and his father jumped into their rental car, trying to escape, but there was no way out.

Bilton said on Facebook: "We hiked back to the car to get out where it was parked at the end of a dead end road. We had just driven this road (safely) 3 hours before to get in and it was our only way out, apart from trying to stay ahead of the fire on foot. After we were stopped by the downed tree, we reversed back through all of this and were rescued by two park employees on a boat. They saved our lives."

The two people on the boat were Jess Kimball, a tour boat captain on Lake McDonald, and an intern ranger at Apgar named Dave.
Justin continued: "When my dad decided he was going to get out to move the burning tree I was most scared because I didn't think I could stop the stubborn old man! He's def cool under pressure. We were camped down a trail that continued from the end of a dead end road and the fire was between us and the only way out. Had to reverse all the way back through all that to get back to the trailhead and down to the lake. The car burned shortly after we abandoned it and got rescued by a boat that just happened to be there."

Holy shit!   That’s got to be an ass puckering feeling to know you can’t get out of it.

So many huge fires this year.  Good for the tour boat operator.

I wish I could send you some rain. We’re +9.5 inches surplus for the year so far and it’s raining more right now.

Sucks for MT, because so many of their resources are in CA. Hopefully we can get them back home soon.

https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2018/08/17/montana-glacier-national-park-fire-update-howe-ridge-coal-ridge/1018340002/

Lots of pics and video at this link.

They are damn lucky.

It's been about 6 weeks since we had any rain. It was dry thunderstorms that started all these fires.

Damn.

Have had a little smoke here and there on the Eastern side of the state. But today has been the worst.  Not sure if it's from the Western side of the state or from up north in Canada.  

As for fire only a few small grass ones. Nothing major yet like last years.

That is a big fire.

For sure!   I was trying to imagine what my next step would be with no boat.  Maybe just drop the gear and try to swim parallel to shore.  But I bet that water is like an ice bath still.

Have a trip planned for the 1st week of October. Hopefully this stuff is over by then. I'll be coming regardless, non refundable air fare Hope the best for everyone out there!

Truthfully, some of these fires won't be out until snow smothers it. Like the fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The Howe fire may be contained by a large degree by then and the Going-to-the-sun may be open as well.

It's still worth the trip, there's plenty to do and see around here.

Air quality in the region.  See the purple spot of really bad air quality.

Hungry Horse News Link

The National Park Service has issued additional evacuation warnings around the Howe Ridge Fire this morning after the fire nearly doubled in size overnight. All campers and NPS employees are being evacuated from the Fish Creek Campground and the Fish Creek Campground Road has been closed from the Camas Road junction, while an evacuation warning has been issued for aread north of the Quarter Circle Bridge Road, including Apgar, the Grist Road and all areas accessed from Quarter Circle Bridge Road. Trails off the Camas Road are now closed as well.
While people must leave Fish Creek immediately, People in Apgar and areas accessed from the Quarter Circle Bridge need to be ready to leave, but are not yet being told to do so.

Down-valley winds drove the fire into the area of the 2003 Roberts Fire overnight, an area of heavy, dead fuels. The fire has increased in size to 7,835 acres. It was 4,100 acres Saturday. The Park Service asks that those in the Apgar area be ready to evacuate quickly if such action is necessary. “While we don’t like to think about evacuation warning coming our way, we have to be mindful of them and be prepared for them when they do,” Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow told the crowd at a fire information meeting at Columbia Falls High School Saturday.

A weather system moving into the area today and overnight is expected to bring slightly cooler temperatures, but also strong shifting winds, which could significantly affect the southern and western flanks of the fire. Crews continue working to protect structures in the Fish Creek Campground and along the Inside North Fork Road, reducing fuels and setting up sprinkler systems.

In all, four significant fires are buring in and around the park. In addition to the Howe Ridge Fire, the Whale Butte and Coal Ridge fires are burning in the North Fork near Polebridge while the Paola Ridge fire continues to burn just west of Essex near Highway 2. According to Mow, the fires are not expected to be put out any time soon.

“Our opportunities to put out a fire once it has started here at this time of the season is rare. These are fires that we are going to sit with until the snow flies. That’s what we have learned over time,” Mow said. “Our ability to address that is dependant on resource availability and, as you know, resources are scarce right now.”

The Going to the Sun Road continues to be closed from Apgar to Logan Pass and the Inside North Fork Road and Fish Creek Road are now closed as well.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/local_news/20180818/fire_officials_say_weather_holds_the_key

Fire officials:  Wait for snow.

damn that's a fire all right. Looks huge too.

Can't be good for all the tourism that comes there at exactly this time of year either.  wow

That's like So CO when we had the Spring Creek Fire.  Even after that fire we had smoke coming in from Californistan.

We're down to two statute miles of visibility according to the Airport weather monitors.

There was a spot on the news last night about how it is impacting tourism, but that it wasn't much. East Glacier and Many Glacier are still open and full even with the poor air quality.

Hazy over here. Could smell it when I walked outside this morning.

You should smell it here.

Just yesterday, I drove over Union Pass in Wyoming. The number of beetle killed trees in that area is staggering. I fear that huge fires will be the norm for a long time. All those dead trees will either have to burn or decompose over decades or centuries.

Isn't that the truth, Hell I can't even see the ridge over from my house and it is only a 1/4 a mile away!  We were going to take the boat out today and I looked outside and got a good wiff of smoke and the hell with it, that damn smoke just sits on the lake when it is like this.

It's quite bad around Helena for beetle kill. Not so much around here, just extremely arid conditions and no rain for the last 6 weeks.

Yep. I've had a headache and my eyes have been watering for the last two days. That wind storm we had last night doubled the size of the fire in the park and at the meeting in C Falls last night, the fire officials basically said that we have to wait on snow to put the fires out for the season.

That's pretty damn terrifying

3,500 acres isn't really a big fire as forest fires go.

Last fire I worked on in 1988 in the Frank Church in Idaho was almost 260,000 acres.

The Carr fire burning right now outside Redding, CA has burned 227,098 acres and is only 83% contained.

Lots of fires get lot bigger that 3,500 acres.

It's not really as wild fires go, but it doubled in size overnight to 7800 acres. We had a front come through with 15-20 mph winds that stoked it up.
Visibility went from 6 SM yesterday to 2 SM today.

Primarily, it is really affecting it so much because it is so close to many historic structures in the park of which several have been lost.

They estimated 7800-8000 acres this morning which is pretty good sized in the area that is burning, if it was in most other areas of the park it would not be as big a deal, but we are talking the major area of development in Glacier.  We have had much larger fires in the past, back in 2003 we had two fires that burned over 200,000 acres and this fire happens to be going through the same area the 2003 fires went through, so lots of hot fuels and very dry wood laying on the ground which makes it extremely difficult to contain or fight.

Fish Creek Campground Evacuated

Fish Creek Campground in Glacier National Park was evacuated Sunday morning as fire managers braced for heightened activity on the uncontained Howe Ridge Fire. The lightning-caused fire burning along the north and west shore of Lake McDonald was estimated at 7,835 acres Sunday. The passage of a cold front Sunday night was expected to whip up winds and further expand the fire perimeter.

“This could significantly affect fire behavior on the southern and western flanks of the fire,” the park warned in a media release Sunday.
The evacuation order included Fish Creek Campground along Lake McDonald, including all campers, Park Service employees and the Fish Creek Ranger Station residence. Fish Creek Campground Road was closed from the Camas Road junction. Fish Creek Campground is the second largest campground in the park, with 178 campsites.

An evacuation warning was issued from the Quarter Circle Bridge Road north. This includes Apgar, the Grist Road and all areas accessed from Quarter Circle Bridge Road. Trails off the Camas Road are now closed. The park warned that people in Apgar or areas accessed from the Quarter Circle Bridge Road area should be ready to leave but were not being told leave as of Sunday afternoon. The fire was driven by down-valley winds Saturday night, primarily burning through heavy downfall from the 2003 Robert Fire.

Smoke on Saturday prohibited air resources from dropping water on the fire, but crews on the ground were working around structures in the Fish Creek Campground area and along the Inside North Fork Road to reduce fuels and to set up sprinkler systems. Structure protection efforts continued along the north end of Lake McDonald, using sprinkler systems around the remaining structures on North Lake McDonald Road. Crews were also installing hoses and sprinklers to minimize potential fire spread towards the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Fire managers will continue to proactively plan for protection of other areas as the fire progresses.

While the weather system moving into the area Sunday night is predicted to bring slightly cooler temperatures, the frontal passage will increase winds and cause shifts in wind directions. Evacuation orders remain in place for the North Lake McDonald road (private residences and the Lake McDonald Ranger Station), Lake McDonald Lodge area (all businesses, employees, and private residences), private residences along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and Sprague Creek and Avalanche Campgrounds.

Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed between the foot of Lake McDonald and Logan Pass. The Inside North Fork Road and the Fish Creek Road are also closed. The Sun Road is open between St. Mary and Logan Pass on the park’s east side.

Multiple trail closures associated with the fire can be found on the park’s website www.nps.gov/glac

Please don't think I was discounting that fire's destructive ability, I was merely responding to the statement that it (at 3500 ac) was a 'big' fire.

That time lapse video you posted showed the effect of the winds on that fire. The wind coming from between the mountains looked like a blow-torch.

Now that they have a Tier 1 overhead and have made it a 'project' fire...I hope they can get a handle on containing it until snowfly.

Stay safe.

At least it should smell like a wood fire/camp fire.
Last year during the big fires in Napa/Sonoma out here it was burning houses and neighborhoods and it stank like a dump fire.

Unfortunately it does not smell like a camp fire, in many ways it smells much worse, a wiff of campfire smoke is often pleasant, but this stuff just sits and intensifies and has a very acid smell to it, stagnated smoke is terrible.

Correct, and after several days of it, it gives me a raging headache and dry eyes.

What's the air quality like in the Beartooth Range and in the Winds?

https://www.airnow.gov/

Air quality is pretty bad in the whole Rocky Mountain West.

You know that feeling when you sit around the campfire and the smoke follows you despite switching spots? Kinda like that.

I was in the Winds yesterday. It was smoky. The strange thing is there were also thunder storms moving through, so the sky was gray from the smoke and clouds combination. It was weird. That area got some rain, so that was good for the fire danger hopefully.

Shit. I don't know what to do. This trip might just be shot to shit once again.

Honestly, I would do what you were planning on anyhow and just allow more time due to conditions, unless you are in a category that makes you especially sensitive to smoky conditions like asthma or other health conditions.

I saw the whole state of MT got an air quality alert.

From a friend via FB in the Flathead area.
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