Boat trailer tire likely sparks new fire near Elmo

Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Mont.
·2 min read

Jul. 23—A new fire on the Flathead Reservation has grown to about 200 acres.

The Big Draw Fire west of Elmo was likely started Monday by a boat trailer tire falling off and igniting grass along Montana 28, according to the CSKT Division of Fire.

A Type 3 team was on the scene, along with three single-engine tankers and crews from Polson, Chief Cliff and Hot Springs fire departments.

The fire was uncontained as of Tuesday. No evacuations were ordered and no structures were threatened.

Stage 2 fire restrictions are in place on the Flathead Reservation.

Also on Tuesday, crews contained a half-acre fire off Rabe Road just south of Blankenship Bridge along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

A small fire that cropped up on Lion Mountain in Whitefish over the weekend was likely human-caused, officials said Tuesday.

"There was no lightning in the area and no ignition sources nearby," Whitefish Fire Department Captain Justin Woods said of the fire that was near the popular Whitefish Trail trailhead.

"All the fuels are super dry," Woods warned. "We were lucky it was not windy — the potential was pretty real."

Two of the state's larger fires are burning near Missoula.

The human-caused Butler Creek Fire was first reported early Monday and was burning 7 miles northwest of downtown Missoula in grass and heavy timber. It was sized at about 300 acres on Tuesday with 15% containment. About 70 structures were threatened.

South of Missoula, The Miller Peak Fire reached 25% containment at 2,581 acres. More than 700 firefighters were assigned to the incident that has cost more than $6.3 million as of Tuesday.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires was slowly pulling away from Western Montana on Tuesday, according to an air quality report from the Montana DEQ. However, numerous active wildfires in Washington, Idaho and Oregon will spread smoke into Montana ahead of an approaching trough, the state agency warned.

Air quality was rated as moderate in the Flathead Valley on Tuesday. An air quality alert was issued for much of eastern Montana.