Crews work to contain blaze

The battle with the Thorne Creek fire is slowly but surely being won.

Since the lightning-caused fire in the rugged Thorne Creek drainage sprang to life way back on July 7, it has dominated the skyline just north of Thompson Falls for over five weeks now, billowing smoke and producing spectacular views of the forest afire to residents of the Clark Fork Valley below, especially at night.

Battling not only the fire but also continuing shortages of personnel and vital firefighting equipment and resources, the Northern Region Type 1 Incident Management Team (IMT) has worked to successfully contain an estimated 15% of the fire's edge along the blaze's important southwest boundary where many residences are located, and continues to establish additional containment as the fire moves to the southeast toward the Thompson River corridor.

The best fire news of the week was the fact that previously evacuated homeowners along Blue Slide Road were placed back into pre-evacuation status as the fire was contained and put into patrol status along the fire's southwest edge, including several homes in the Graves Creek area. As a result, the closure blockade for Graves Creek has been moved up to the U.S. Forest Service property line past all private properties on the Graves Creek road.

The Thorne Creek fire was still listed at 21,967 acres Tuesday morning, although that number is likely incorrect as flights over the fire with infrared cameras mapping the boundary have not been made for the last few days due to technical difficulties.

Five 20-person crews (including two from the National Guard), 18 engines, four helicopters, 11 water tenders, a dozer, two skidgens, two feller bunchers and a masticator are assigned to the Thorne Creek fire, with a total of 418 personnel working on the incident. There have been a total of only four injuries on the fire so far, with all of those being considered minor.

Since starting as two separate fires in the Winniemuck Creek/Thorne Creek area, the fire has now moved through the Sqaylth-kwum Creek, Maier Gulch, Weber Gulch and Dry Gulch drainages as it progresses to the southeast along the base of Silcox Mountain.

The active fire boundary is now about two miles northeast of Thompson Falls in the Ashley Creek area. Much of the fire's western-half footprint has cooled to the point of producing very little smoke over the past few weeks. Current evacuation zones will be released back into pre-evac status as containment continues to grow.

The lower Thompson River area could be placed into pre-evacuation status as the fire advances that way in the coming days.

After several days of firing unburned pockets and strategic locations out ahead of the fire to reduce fire intensity and spread into undesired areas, and to produce a lower intensity fire front to prevent it from burning too hot and making large runs, managers were attempting to check up fire activity in Ashley Creek early this week. Although much of western Montana received wetting rains last weekend, the Thorne Creek fire area got less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation out of that weather system.

"We received .02 inches of rain on Cougar Peak and about a tenth of an inch in the Plains area," Operations Section Chief Scott Schrenk told a stakeholders meeting audience Monday. "The forecast was for about half an inch but we did not get anything near that in the fire area."

The Fire Management Officer for the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District when not assigned to the Type 1 IMT, Schrenk said that an old, two-track road in Ashley Creek was being opened up to aid the effort there. "We have an opportunity to check up the fire some in lower Ashley," he said, "and plan on utilizing air operations (including helicopter water drops) and some other tactics to accomplish that."

Incident Commander Mark Goeller said the IMT's plan for containing and controlling the Thorne Creek fire is working, but that it is a longer-term plan than normal, given the amount of fire season still lying ahead.

"We are not going to rush things," he said. "We have a great plan in place and are set up for success with it. By using features on the landscape such as ridges and natural fuel breaks, we can slow the pace of spread and continue to moderate fire behavior to more of a low intensity."

Since IMT teams generally work in two-week shifts, Goeller said the current IMT would likely be timing out later this week, and another team will be brought in to replace this one, probably by Friday evening. Goeller is representing the third team to manage the Thorne Creek fire so far, though all three of those teams drew most of its key members from (and are holdovers from) the original Northern Region Type 1 team initially assigned to it back in early July.

What's more, many of the team members, like Schrenk, live in this area and work for the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District. That inside knowledge of the area and familiarity with the community has helped produce quality results.

"It should be a seamless transition, the next team will pick up the plan and keep it moving," Goeller said. "By looking ahead and taking advantage of opportunities as they present themselves we look forward to the eventual containment of this fire."

Although 22,000 acres is by no means a small fire, there have been no structures lost and no serious injuries reported on the Thorne Creek fire to date.

Another community meeting for the Thorne Creek fire is tentatively planned for Thursday evening at 6 p.m., again at Ainsworth Park in Thompson Falls. The Sanders County Firewise trailer has also been set up at Ainsworth and is staffed between noon and 6 p.m. each day to provide fire information to the public.