ARLEE — Arson is the suspected cause of the Saddle Mountain fire, burning just west of Arlee, fire information officer for Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Rich Janssen said.

The 471-acre fire has been burning since Sept. 23 and is now 80 percent contained, Janssen said Tuesday afternoon.

The way the fire started is suspicious, Janssen said.

“It started in a really remote place, near a road, but seven-eight miles into the back country. There was no lightning in the area at the time the fire started,” he said.

CSKT is investigating the causes of the fire, which grew from around 300 acres on Sept. 23 to over 450 last weekend.

“We still have to worry about afternoon winds kicking something up, but we have enough man-power out there that we think we can contain anything that happens,” he said on Tuesday.

CSKT crews remained on the fire this week. During the weekend, as many as nine 20-person crews worked to contain the fire. The hot shot crews have since moved off the fire.

Three crews were demobilized on Sunday as firefighters gained more control over the blaze after a windy Saturday.

“We’ve already started mop-ups within 100 feet of the fire line,” Janssen said.

However, Janssen said the fire was being closely monitored and a helicopter continued to drop water on hot spots.