Sheep Gap Fire still burning, makes run towards Plains

Sheep Gap fire made a run for the town last week, but thanks to quick thinking from fire fighters and the Sheriffs Department no one was hurt.

It was a surreal day when the massive fire front made a run for the town after it peaked over the ridges.

The Sanders County Sheriff’s Office made a mad dash the day before it all happened to the four corners area to evacuate some residents due to her[Sheep Gap] threats.

At that stage on Tuesday, September 12; Sheriff Tom Rummel along with his deputies and Undersheriff joined forces with fire fighters and National Guardsmen to block the four corners and begin another round of evacuations and pre evacuations on Swamp Creek Road and Black Jack Road south.

While evacuation and pre-evacuation orders were being executed; the PIO officers at the ICP camp west of Thompson Falls were still acquiring information about the run Sheep Gap made. Deep Creek at that time also made a change of direction and run around the back of the hill side.

With the counties two biggest active blazes gaining a third wind, officials were working closely across all department to ensure that human lives wouldn’t be put in danger.

Due to the time of day, the fire fighters that were able to continue ground work were being put on a night shift, with a PIO also driving to four corners to help coordinate any movements of Sheep Gap and to also offer assistance to the Sheriffs Department.

As for air attacks, they were put off until the next day due to smoke and other factors that would make it difficult to utilize the full potential of that particular resource.

By the time Wednesday, September 15 came around, the county within the Plains/Thompson Falls area was once again inundated with thick black smoke as result of Sheep Gap and Deep Creek fires.

The morning of Wednesday saw serious updates come out of the Highway 200 Complex camp for residents to be aware of what was happening and the outlook of what weather models were predicting.

“Yesterday afternoon brought increased winds and more fire activity. As the critical fire weather moved through the area, all fires within the Highway 200 Complex experienced increased fire behavior. In several areas, spot fires that ignited in thick timber and fuels produced large smoke columns. Despite this increase if fire activity, previous containment lines are still intact and fire lines near structures continue to hold. As of 6 AM, no structures have been lost,” as said by the fact sheet.

Though structures had not been lost at that stage, there was a large probability that it could very well happen as increased winds were again forecasted.

In most cases infrared flights are often used at night to get an accurate account of the fire perimeter by mapping heat sources. However, the infrared flights that were required to gather data could not be flown that Tuesday evening.

Officials recognized that the fire size was likely to increase due to the intense fire activity. The reported acreage loss as information came to light was directly obtained from firefighters on the fire line at that time.

At the latest town meeting in Plains, Sheriff Rummel had said, “There were a few times that it[Sheep Gap] literally made the hair on my neck stand. It was very serious and when we have to make the call to evacuate residents, trust me it is not made lightly.”

This was emphasized to the crowd on Thursday evening. On more than one occasion resident saw a number of police vehicles as local Plains police were on hand to assist whomever required aid.

All departments the Valley Press were told, worked together intertwining were required as the big run towards Plains township was made on Wednesday afternoon by Sheep Gap.

At that time, residents and many officials bar a small handful were aware of how quickly she was motoring through the dry forest.

A small group of operators and fire fighters were guided out of a dangerous situation thanks to a helicopter pilot who was able to get near enough to view an exit for the group of men.

Kevin Bruch who posted of the life or death incident on social media said of the story of that mad dash to safety is one that truly highlights the dangers faced that evening.

“Last night, after 34 days of battling Montana’s wildfires, this white feller buncher, along with three other logging machines died a fiery death.

In a massive canopy fire, which started as an uphill spot fire but uncharacteristically soon began growing and accelerating downhill on the sheep gap fire, near Plains Montana.

The operators, who’d been constructing a fire line, were forced to abandon their machines and race for their lives in a caravan of pickup trucks as the fire threatened their escape route...the driver(Charlie) of the last pickup described this life or death journey….

Charlie told me[Kevin Bruch], “ I had never driven faster on a narrow, steep terrain logging road in my life.”

Bruch went on to recount what he was told by those involved,”When drain dips were encountered, the excessive speed caused the truck to go air borne for an extended period; all the while the helicopter pilot was telling him on the radio, to hurry because the fire was about to block the exit.

Broken tree tops, fiery debris and smoke was making driving almost impossible, without a moment to spare and with the fire roaring behind them as it exploded across the road; they all somehow managed to escape and survive.

Normally, fire will burn slowly as it backs down a hill. Veteran fire fighters who were present, revealed they had never before witnessed such unusual fire behavior.”

Bruch’s post has been shared over personal Facebook pages and also other business pages. His post being shared more than 10k times with more than 7.7k engaged in the post.

Hamilton,Information Officer for the US Forest Service was within the Plains City limits and was able to meet with the Valley Press reporter to update those effected residents via a Facebook live update.

As emergency vehicles of both local fire department and the US Forest Service moved past the Sanders County Fair grounds to offer support, the un-sung heroes of the night were the handful of cowboys that hooked trailers up and moved to the Amish ranch that was under serious threat of the fire.

Steven Yoder spoke to the Valley Press expressing his family’s gratitude to those that turned up to help evacuate the family and cattle that were in the line of fire.

“The game warden Troy Hinks came to our ranch and advised us that we should evacuate the women and children as well as what we could as the fire was headed straight for us,” said Yoder.

As a handful of cowboys aided the Amish; men rounded up and walked cattle to the fair grounds. There they were met by a couple of others who took the initiative to load up the empty stock trailers with the smaller animals and what they could to trailer to the fair grounds.

By the time the Sheriffs department deputy arrived on scene he was conversing with Sheriff Rummel who then made the decision that Black Jack Road as well as Cat Track Road was needed to be evacuated.

Both the Type II Management team and the Sheriff made note at the town meeting on Thursday that if not for the quick thinking and departments working well together during extreme stressful conditions, they would not have successfully been able to keep locals safe.

With the aid of air attacks from multiple helicopters and retardant drop planes, Sheep Gap was again a step closer to containment.

The weather forecasts of cooler weather have aided fire fighters to once again gain control of the lines, spot fires can still be seen smoking away along the ridges.

At this time the active fires have settled down tremendously, though the Valley Press was told that it would have to be a season changing event to effectively stamps out the blazes and call the 2017 fire season to an end.