Fire Lines Holding - Seeley Lake Still Safe

SEELEY LAKE – A now-familiar scene unfolded in Seeley Lake Elementary School Sunday evening. The noticeably smaller crowd gathered for the third public meeting to hear updates on the ongoing fire operations on the Rice Ridge Fire and other fires burning in the area.

The most recent fire maps formed the backdrop of the meeting. A daily progression map showed the growth over the last 24 hours-fingers of fire spread west down Rice Ridge towards Highway 83 and a sizable section of fire pushed up towards Morrell Mountain.

The fire grew 750 acres Saturday night any was nearly 8,000 total acres as of 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Sunday's operations included aerial resources on the West Morrell Road where there was a little more fire activity, as well as the two fingers that started smoking down Rice Ridge.

Most updates from the Eastern Area Management Team focused on the work being done out of sight of the public. While residents have readily observed aerial support over the last few days, most the work has been done in the closure area.

Dozer lines and hand lines have been constructed along the southwest from Cottonwood Lakes Road to Highway 83. The road corridors have also been thinned to reduce fire behavior should the fire reach them.

Structure protection has also been completed along Cottonwood Lakes Road, including the Shooting Range north of the Seeley Lake Airport and along Highway 83 for several miles. The structure protection includes miles of hose line, sprinklers placed near structures and large orange water tanks, or 'pumpkins,' located at key areas.

"We're trying to reduce the fuel loads around any of the structures and increase the fuel moisture," said Keith Murphy, Operations Section Chief on the fire. "It makes it easy to catch stuff. We also got in a structure protection specialist o help us out on prepping all the structures and give us good ideas."

The Seeley Lake Fire Department is also coordinating with the fire crew to prepare and plan for structure protection on the north end of Seeley Lake.

Murphy also reiterated that the fire line along the southwest flank of the fire is continuing to hold and stall any movement towards town.

"We cannot go too far in due to the snags and the safety of the firefighters but it's still holding as of today," said Murphy to a round of applause. "The future plan is to head down the Cottonwood Lakes Road down farther and push this fire up into the Bob Marshall."

Updates on road construction were also given. Chip sealing south of town continues and construction north of town also remains in place and continues to slow traffic. They will be shut down if the operation chief deems it necessary for the fire or evacuation orders are issued.

Once again, the Temporary Flight Restrictions in the area were brought up due to another drone flight on Sunday afternoon. The area for the TRF has been expanded east to the Monture drainage, north of Ovando.

"The radar on a lot of the aircraft will pick up those drones and it will shut down all air operations in the area," said Federal Officer Tyler Robinson. "If the team needs the aircraft, they need to be up doing their jobs."

Robinson also let the public know that in the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness have gone to Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. Restrictions can be viewed at https://firerestrictions.us/stage/nr/stage-i/

The waters of Seeley Lake remain closed to recreationists until it is no longer needed for aerial suppression operations. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will consider a partial closure if the CL-215 scooper planes are no longer needed. FWP makes a daily determination for the lake closure.

It was clarified that Phase 1A of the Double Arrow Ranch, west of Highway 83 and south of Seeley Lake, has not received evacuation warnings. The only area west of Highway 83 to receive the evacuation warning is from Big Larch Campground south to Morrell Creek Road on the north end of Seeley Lake.

Robinson added that if evacuations are ordered, residents should take their most familiar route. The assumption that roads that are currently gated by the U.S. Forest Service and state will not be opened during an evacuation is not true.

An update was also given on the Liberty Fire. The fire is about 4,000 acres and hasn't seen much growth in the last five days. There are 17 miles of indirect lines constructed. There will be a public meeting in Arlee tomorrow night to address the fire in full.

There will be a procession for Vista Grande Hotshot Brent Witham Monday, Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. in Missoula. Witham died Wednesday, Aug. 2 after a felling accident while fighting the Lolo Peak Fire.

The procession will start at Garden City Funeral Home at 1705 West Broadway Street and proceed west along Broadway ending at the Aerial Fire Depot. The public is asked to line Broadway between Garden City Funeral Home and the Reserve Street overpass by 8:30 a.m. Officials encourage the public not to line/park on Broadway west of the overpass for safety reasons.

The next public meeting for the Rice Ridge Fire will be on at SLE Thursday, Aug. 10 at 6 p.m.