At about 5 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, residents in St. Regis and the West End area of Mineral County were awakened early to rolls of thunder and flashes of lightning.

Late summer thunderstorms can prove worrisome at this point in the Northern Rockies during fire season.

More than 200 lighting strikes were recorded in the Lolo National Forest with the storm that came through early Wednesday morning. By 5:45 a.m. the Camels Hump Lookout reported smoke on Boyd Mountain.

Jim Ward, District Fire Management Officer for the Superior Ranger District described the timeline of the days fire activity.

“Initial Attack (IA) Modules called in for duty at 5:50 a.m. The smoke is near the top of the east ridgeline of Boyd Mountain and a one-mile hike in. Two IA modules on scene at 8 a.m. Fire is burning in dead and downed timber. Fire is lined and contained at 9:35 a.m. with a fire size of 0.10 acres. A Type 3 helicopter was used for bucket work to do water drops on the fire to aid mop-up efforts.”

The fire was considered controlled by 4:15 p.m. that afternoon but not declared out. It is currently in patrol status.

This series of events was repeated multiple times on August 19, on Boyd Mountain outside of St. Regis with two more smoke reports along the east ridgeline. Each fire burned less than a .10 of an acre and were lined and contained quickly.

With the storm came some precipitation, but not nearly enough.

“There are three Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) we use to monitor weather parameters on the Superior Ranger District,” Ward said. “The RAWS on Haugan Mountain received no precipitation. The RAWS in St. Regis received 0.25 inch of precipitation. The RAWS in between Keystone Creek and Pardee Creek received 0.10 inch of precipitation.”

With the hot temperatures and low precipitation that Mineral County has experienced for the past several weeks, a substantial amount of moisture is necessary to aid in lightning strike scenarios.

“There are many variables associated with the amount of precipitation needed to keep fires in check,” Ward said. “In open areas with light fuels, a lesser amount may suffice. In timber with tight canopies, much of the precipitation can get intercepted by the canopy before reaching the surface fuels. In general, we consider greater than 0.10 inch of precipitation as a wetting rain and beneficial.”

There are many factors associated with how long a fire can smolder after the ignition from a lightning strike. Ward noted that with current conditions they will have to watch for smokes and fires for at least the next week.

“For example, lightning may have ignited a fire within a hollow tree and may not become visible for many days,” Ward said. “Another example are lightning ignitions that occur with good precipitation. A fire may smolder under the canopy of a tree. Once the surrounding fuels dry out over the course of the next several burn periods, it may begin to spread.”

A fire was also reported Aug. 19 near DeBorgia up Big Creek. The fire was discovered in an old debris of burned stumps and root wads mixed with dirt.

“It is likely that it has been smoldering within buried woody material since May,” Ward said. “We are not 100% sure of this, but based on the conditions observed on-site and discussions with the landowner it is a high probability.”

Additionally, an abandoned campfire along Montana 135 between the Clark Fork River and the railroad tracks escaped a rock ring on Monday, Aug. 17. That fire burned .10 acres. It is extremely important to drown out camp fires before leaving a camp site for this reason.

“The railroad takes extra precautions when burning conditions become elevated to minimize the probability of ignitions. With that being said, any spark with dry fuels and hot/dry weather has a higher probability of causing a fire and spreading rapidly,” Ward said.

Fire conditions will remain consistent for the upcoming week but with increasing winds. As for the outlook for the rest of fire season here in western Montana, Ward said “This is the million-dollar question. It is difficult to speculate with confidence. The longer-term outlooks show, in general, our temperatures have a probability to be above normal and they are showing a probability of normal precipitation.

“With the increased visitor use in the forest and hunting seasons approaching we will still have the potential for human ignitions. At least the days become shorter and the sun angle also becomes lower which shorten the active burning periods.”