The Miller Peak fire southeast of Missoula is mostly contained and fire activity has been minimal, as recent rains have lowered — but not eliminated — wildfire danger across the region.
The national-level incident management team overseeing firefighting operations on the fire, which ignited July 14, issued its final update Friday before handing management of the fire over to a local team from the Lolo National Forest on Sunday morning. The fire was 2,724 acres and 86% contained Friday. Eighty-one personnel were working the fire, down from more than 600 a few weeks earlier.
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By Tuesday, 52 people were assigned to the fire, which is 10 miles southeast of downtown Missoula and just over 5 miles west of Clinton. Hand crews were working to maintain and monitor containment lines around the fire, according to an online update from the Lolo.
“The fire is in a new phase as water bars and log recovery are completed and the fire is becoming increasingly contained with the consistent precipitation and constant attention,” Northern Rockies Team 9 stated in its final update on Friday. “Local resources will continue to stay and monitor the fire as well as be prepared to respond to any new fires in the area if necessary. Due to the spotty burn on the east flank, crews will need to maintain a presence on the fire for the foreseeable future.”
An area closure around the fire remained in place. The closure stretches from Eightmile Saddle, just north of Gilbert Creek, on the south to the upper Deer Creek drainage south of Pattee Canyon Recreation Area on the north. The closure does not include the popular recreation area, but it does include the upper Deer Creek Road and Skyline trailhead area. The closure extends to the Lolo National Forest boundaries on the east and west, which on the east is barely outside Clinton.
Fire danger moderate
The Lolo National Forest decreased wildfire danger to “moderate,” the second of five levels, on Monday “due to cooler temperatures and precipitation this weekend across the forest.”
“Although fire danger is moderate, fires can start from most accidental causes,” forest officials stated in announcing the change, “especially in grassland areas where fire will burn briskly and spread rapidly on windy days.”
The further decrease in fire danger came a week after the Lolo decreased fire danger from “extreme,” the highest level, to “high,” the middle of the five levels. And Stage-2 fire restrictions were lifted last week for Missoula, Ravalli and Mineral counties, as well as on both the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests. The restrictions, which had been in effect since mid-July, prohibited campfires in all circumstances, as well as other activities like driving off roads, using welding machines or torches, or operating devices with internal-combustion engines.
Joshua Murdock covers the outdoors and natural resources for the Missoulian. He previously served as editor-in-chief of The Boulder Monitor in Jefferson County, Montana, and has worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in rural towns in Idaho and Utah.
