SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Volunteer firefighters responded to the Wilderness Sportsman’s Gun Range on Cottonwood Lakes Road July 12 around 12:15 p.m. for a tire fire. The fire was confined to the tires in the pistol range and one engine was able to extinguish the burn.
Fire Chief Dave Lane said there was potentially a tracer round used in the pistol range.
“We don’t know for sure but that would make sense,” said Lane after receiving conflicting witness statements.
In the pistol range, the tires are behind the target. Lane said something struck the tires and they caught fire. He said 7-10 tires were involved when volunteer firefighters responded.
“Hopefully it brings out the awareness that people need to be careful around the wildfires,” said Lane.
President of the Wilderness Sportsman’s Club Rod Stevens wants to remind anyone using the Shooting Range that tracer rounds or exploding targets including tannerite are not allowed at the range.
According to Clearwater Unit Manager Kristen Baker-Dickinson, no citations or violations were issued by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as a result of the fire.
Baker-Dickinson said, “We ask that the public use caution when recreating due to the increasingly dry conditions.”
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