Crews battling fire near Lost Trail Wildlife Refuge

SCOTT SHINDLEDECKER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 5 months AGO

A helicopter makes bucket drops near a group of firefighters at the Valley Creek Fire at Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge near Marion on Tuesday, Sept. 8. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)

Firefighters and aerial crews responded to a wildfire Tuesday afternoon at the Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge.

The Valley Creek Fire was estimated to be between 50 and 75 acres in size late Tuesday, burning in grass, brush and some timber on Southern Pines Plantations land located inside the refuge, about 10 miles northwest of Marion. However, by Wednesday afternoon the blaze had grown to 103 acres, officials said.

It is burning on the north side of Pleasant Valley Road and the administration building for the refuge.

The fire was burning uphill away from the building and firefighters had developed a line around the southern end of the fire.

“Things are looking pretty good on it,” said Flathead County Fire Service Area Manager Lincoln Chute. “We have enough people to take care of it and as dry as it is, we don’t want it to get big.”

Two fixed-wing planes dropped fire retardant and two helicopters dropped water on the fire while a spotter plane assisted. There were also two bulldozers working to help build a line around it.

A 10-man crew worked the fire on the ground while seven smokejumpers worked with Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Marion Fire Department firefighters. A 20-man crew was ordered for Wednesday.

Chute said due to the fact there was timber on the Southern Pine land and COVID-19 concerns, keeping the fire small was desirable to keep fire crews small.

The fire was discovered at about 12:50 p.m.

The 8,900-acre Lost Trail Refuge was created 21 years ago when the land was sold from a rancher to Montana Power, which then sold it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but Chute said an investigator would take a look to try and determine it.

Chute said he was in a meeting earlier Tuesday with other fire officials in Northwest Montana and they reported 16 new starts in the last week, all man-made.

“We haven’t had lightning in a while, so there have been quite a few.”

A helicopter makes bucket drops near a group of firefighters at the Valley Creek Fire at Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge near Marion on Tuesday, Sept. 8. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)