Dozens more firefighters arrived on the frontlines of the Skillet Fire west of Olney as the region heads into another cycle of dry and gusty weather that will likely heighten fire danger.

Nearly 300 personnel, six engines and four helicopters are now deployed on the Skillet Fire, which was first identified burning in Flathead National Forest on July 29. As of Aug. 2, the fire had grown to 2,494 acres and was 0% contained. 

Officials were unable to complete an infrared mapping flight on Tuesday, but the fire continues to torch, spot and creep, according to the National Interagency Fire Center’s Aug. 4 update on the blaze. Rising temperatures and increased wind speeds are expected to escalate the risk of heightened fire activity as the week goes on. 

The fire is most likely to move east as it grows. While the flames are still much too far out to pose a threat to communities along U.S. 93, Public Information Officer Jordan Nesbitt said crews are working to mitigate the risk. 

“We like to think way out ahead of the fire,” she said. “We have a lot of line planned and being constructed out there between the fire and Olney.” 

Crews continue to use heavy equipment and controlled burning to craft containment lines along the southern and western edges of the fire in the hopes of driving the flames north into the 2023 East Fork Fire scar.  

Sprinklers and hoses have been staged in the Good Creek area, which can be quickly deployed if the fire takes a sudden turn toward the cluster of private homes and infrastructure. A helicopter crew also dropped protective wrapping near Elk Mountain Lookout.   

Total fire-fighting costs reached $3.1 million on the sixth day of operations. 

THE MONTANA Department of Environmental Quality lifted an air quality warning for Lincoln and Flathead counties as shifting winds pushed wildfire smoke away from the northwestern corner of the state.  

The local air quality index has continued to trend downward, toward safer levels, though pockets of high particulate matter persist in some areas of the Flathead Valley. Whitefish logged an air quality index of 153 on Tuesday morning, putting the town just over the threshold into the unhealthy range. Kalispell and Bigfork tallied in the unhealthy for sensitive groups range while air quality in Columbia Falls was rated as moderate. 

Monsoonal moisture may hit the region early next week, according to the state environmental agency’s Aug. 4 smoke forecast, but officials warned that any rains are “still several days out, so confidence in any meaningful and widespread precipitation for the area is still low.” 

In other wildfire activity in the region, the 1,234-acre Elder I Fire near Frenchtown reached 84% containment on Aug. 4. The fire is expected to reach full containment in the next several days, allowing personnel and resources to be reassigned to other incidents. 

The Silvertip Fire burning deep in the Bob Marshall Wilderness grew about 170 acres on Monday. The total burned area is now estimated at 6,196 acres.