Wildland fire on Upper Lynch Creek

Fire season has begun in Sanders County. The DNRC Plains Unit responded to a wildland fire on Upper Lynch Creek Sunday evening.

Fire season has begun in Sanders County. The DNRC Plains Unit responded to a wild land fire on Upper Lynch Creek Sunday evening.

The fire was reported to the Sanders County Sheriff's Office at 4:00 p.m. by a landowner who called the Plains dispatch center and rounded up the DNRC's fire crew to handle the blaze. The DNRC sent five people and two engines to fight the fire that covered three-tenths of an acre. It took the fire crew six hours to put out the fire and clean the area. Some workers returned on Monday to finish "mopping the area."

"Everything went really well, we lined the fire and got the hose all the way up to it and then mopped it up," said Calvin Minemyer, Unit Supervisor for the DNRC's Plains Unit.

The cause of the fire is unknown, although Minemyer said he suspects a lightening holdover could have sparked the fire. Fellow member of the fire crew suspects the fire could have been started by a campfire holdover. The fire was up on the ridge and the fire crew could not find a lightening strike, therefore, the actual cause of the fire remains unknown.

Minemyer said he was surprised of the fire's location because of Thursday night's downpour in the area.

Although fire crews were anticipating an intense fire season due to the lack of moisture during the winter and early spring, Minemyer said the spring so far has been fairly slow with fewer fires than they anticipated. So far the DNRC has responded to six fires this season.