Officials prepare for coming wildfire season

If the Clark Fork River hasn’t flooded by the first part of June, area residents can usually breath easier.

The mountain snowpack was strong and started melting at a conservative flow and then picked up speed in the middle of May but not enough to cause flood damage in our area.

So, the next possible destructive force we wring our hands over is the upcoming fire season.

It’s common knowledge that moist springs are needed yet monsoon-like spring rains can put people on edge for what to expect in August and September. The low grasses and ground cover soak up the water and grow dense foliage which makes locating morel mushrooms more difficult to find, but it also becomes one of the primary ingredients of forest and range fires.

The grasses and weeds dry out and become brittle as summer rolls along which works as the perfect fuel to initiate a fire or to keep one growing and spreading.

Yellowstone Park knows all too well because 36% (793,880 acres) of our nation’s first national park was affected in 1988. About 300 large mammals perished as a direct result of the fires, including 246 elk, nine bison, four mule deer and two moose.

2017 was Montana’s worst fire season since 1910, burning 1.4 million acres. But even before 2017, Mineral and Sanders County residents have payed closer attention to conditions and prepared for what could happen.

At the monthly Mineral County Local Emergency Planning Committee and the county Fire Council meetings in June, Jim Ward had the floor.

Ward has worked with the United States Forest Service since 1985 and is the District Fire Management Fire Office for the Lolo National Forest and the Superior Ranger District.

“The July, August and September modules are now suggesting the possibility of a weak La Nina during the peak fire season. These can produce dry thunderstorm outbreaks over the area and hence, become fire igniters.”

This is what meteorologists will be looking for and alerting the communities if conditions arise.

Steve Temple, Mineral County Airport Manager, reported that a CH-47 Chinook helicopter will be stationed at this airport and the Plains airport through summer for fighting fires. It will rotate between the two locations and come complete with an entire crew on 24/7 watch.

Due to social distancing, meetings have been scarce in attendance, but most have been offering Zoom participation when conducted indoors.

At the close of these two meetings, round-robins are held ‘for the good of the order’ from those participating organizations: There were recently 15 significant earthquakes along the Yellowstone fault in a 36-hour period.

The Rainbow Family have been scouting areas off of Highway 12 past Lolo Pass barely into Idaho for their annual seven-day event this summer.

With attendance topping 20,000 participants it will impact resources in some manor for Missoula and Mineral counties.

Discussion of a satellite volunteer fire station in the Tarkio area is back on the table.

Rabies are to be prepared for from this point on primarily from racoons and skunks, but coyotes are carriers, too. One young man in Missoula County was bitten by a rattlesnake who was not seriously injured so be on the lookout especially on sunny hot cliffs.

Open burning for Mineral County is closed.

Fire pits 3-feet-by-3-feet are the only ones allowed and this is baffling to some as Missoula County has open burning through June.