Seizing Opportunities - Working Towards Getting Back to Normal

SEELEY LAKE – The community met Aug. 24 for the eighth community meeting. The Rice Ridge Fire has been burning for 31 days.

New Evacuations Warnings were issued late Thursday afternoon for Kozy Korner area. Eastern boundary starts in the 7500 block of Woodworth Road and runs west to Cottonwood Lakes road, then north through the Rich Ranch. There are 15 homes in the warning area. This also includes the Black Canyon Ranch which is the only property located on the south side of Woodworth Rd in the warning area. Anything to the west of Skilly Lane to Highway 83 is not affected by the warning.

There was also an evacuation orders for two cabins along FR 17507 north into North Cottonwood Canyon.

The evacuation warning for Seeley Lake and Double Arrow Ranch is still in place. While the team will lift it as soon as it is safe to do so, Incident Commander John Thompson asked the community to remain diligent because "we have seen that this fire can move."

Thompson's Northern Rockies Type 2 Incident Management Team was on the Sapphire Complex earlier this season and most of the team members are from Montana and Idaho.

Thompson said every place on the Lolo National Forest is steep and everywhere is forested. He continued this makes a lot of work for firefighters but it all about seizing opportunities when they present themselves. Rain and increased relative humidity has allowed the crews get in and get a lot of work done.

Because of the current conditions the team is focusing their efforts on the west side of the fire, hoping to contain it. Crews are working behind heavy equipment and tying the fire into the existing roads. They are moping up the other areas on the west that are just smoldering. The indirect line put in is being used as a contingency line.

The containment along the south edge of the fire is holding well with the exception of the area in Morrell Creek where the fire crossed the road to Morrell Falls (Forest Road 4353) Sunday night. They are still picking up spots that are growing to an acre in size but they have been able to contain them all.

The idea to burn the western face of Mount Morrell has been abandoned. They are going to go direct to the fires edge where it hasn't moved further to the south. Then use the road systems in place to secure that section.

The fire has pushed into North Fork of Cottonwood Creek and Dunham Creek. They are using aircraft to hold fire so they can improve roads and get control lines in place.

Once the team puts the west side of the fire "to bed" – noted by a black line on the maps once the objective is complete – they will shift more resources to the south and southeast area of the fire.

The team is not taking any direct suppression actions on the east side of the fire. However it has not moved significantly because of the natural breaks.

Thompson asks the community to not yell at the firefighters because they have had a long fire season and they still have a lot of fire season left. If they have problems or concerns, take them to him.

Thompson also emphasized that all decisions are driven by community safety and firefighter safety. Success for the team is gauged by making sure every firefighter makes it home safely.

"The weather guys are trying to figure out different ways to say hot and dry. That isn't our friend," said Thompson. "In Montana, we know that any day after Labor Day it can snow but that is not in the forecast. I thank you for your patience."

The next community meeting will be Monday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. at Seeley Lake Elementary.