Holter Lake campgrounds evacuated as winds blow fire

Variable winds blew a small fire up from four acres to 100 acres in a few hours Sunday afternoon and spurred officials to evacuate three campgrounds near Holter Lake, Lewis and Clark Sheriff Leo Dutton said early Sunday evening.

“We have evacuated three Bureau of Land Management campgrounds from Log Gulch to the frontage road near the bridge and given warnings to about 60 homeowners with residences in the area to be prepared,” Dutton said.

The Bray Gulch Creek fire was first reported at about 1:45 p.m. Sunday at three to four acres, about 4 miles northeast of the Holter Lake Campground, which firefighters are now using as a staging area, he said, but grew to 100 acres by 5:30 p.m. Winds were initially blowing the fire away from the residences along the Missouri River and the Log Gulch, Departure Point and Holter Lake campgrounds, he said, but a cold front moving caused the winds to reverse directions.

Volunteer Wolf Creek, Baxendale and East Valley fire departments joined U.S. Forest Service and Montana Air National Guard forces in fighting the fire, Dutton said. Fire retardant and water were being dropped on the fire by Air Guard tankers, he said.

The cause of the fire has not been confirmed, but it’s suspected that lightning from Saturday night’s storm was responsible, he said.

Another area fire of about 10 acres on Stickney Creek that is not yet threatening homes is being fought by U.S. Forest Service planes with retardant, Dutton said.

In other Montana fire news, the Associated Press reported that light rain dampened some wildfires in far western Montana on Sunday, while other fires closer to the central part of the state continued to spread and threaten rural residences.

After most fires grew on Saturday because of warm, windy conditions, Sunday’s weather brought at least cooler temperatures across the state.

“We were hoping that today would not be so active and that’s the way things have been working out,” Brad Purdy, spokesman for a complex of fires burning in the Kootenai National Forest near the Idaho border, said Sunday afternoon.

Purdy said conditions improved so much on one fire burning south of Libby that fire managers on Sunday morning lifted an evacuation order issued the previous day for 28 rural residences outside the town.

Rain also calmed fires burning in Mineral and Missoula counties west of Missoula that had earlier destroyed five Forest Service structures.

To the north, a fire in the Flathead National Forest near Glacier National Park that forced the evacuation of the small community of Essex also was not as active Sunday, according to fire spokesman Ted Pettis.

“It behaved itself pretty well,” Pettis said. “I drove through the fire area today and it was pretty calm. I didn’t see any open flames. It was smoking in places.”

But to the east, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, no rain fell on a wildfire that forced the evacuation of the community of Heart Butte. In fact, fire managers recommended Sunday that some rural ranches in the vicinity of the Swift Reservoir leave.

Spokesman Bill Morse said no new mandatory evacuation orders were issued, but the fire was continuing to spread.

The danger to the town of Heart Butte, which was evacuated Friday evening, was lessened some on Sunday because firefighters were able to burn potential fuels around the town and the fire was more active in other areas, Morse said.

“They got a pretty good line established around it,” he said.

The American Red Cross reported 384 people from Heart Butte registered at a shelter set up in Browning.

The fire, which is about 2 miles from Heart Butte, has burned more than 77 square miles.