Fires of 2007 / Black Cat off and running / Frenchtown area on notice
By Tristan Scott - Missoulian
FRENCHTOWN - Evacuation notices for residents east of Frenchtown were erratic as the winds on Thursday as the Black
Cat fire ran in multiple directions, consuming structures and at times even forcing firefighters to retreat into safety zones.
As darkness fell, the fire had shoved its way north through heavy timber, grassy hills and shrubs and was burning actively
in the Mill Creek drainage, driving boat-towing, camper-carting residents from their neighborhoods and onto the smoke-filled
Frenchtown Frontage Road.
From Frenchtown Rural Fire Station, the view was a continuous red glow from the Wye interchange to Mill Creek, parallel to
Interstate 90, said Cindy Crittendon, Frenchtown Rural fire information officer.
The fire was “raging” in the dense timber above the Hawthorne Springs subdivision as it reached Mill Creek. There were also
reports of fire atop Evaro Hill, including one sighting behind the old Buck Snort restaurant.
Twelve miles north of Mill Creek, through the timber, lies Arlee - and given the fire's unpredictable nature, the flames could
push that way.
“Anything is possible,” Crittendon said.
Travis Stav and Lindy Plakke, who have lived in Hawthorne Springs for two years, never expected the Black Cat to descend
on their hillside homes.
“I never thought that this thing would be coming over the ridge,” Stav said.
The first mandatory evacuation emptied homes in the Fred Lane subdivision at 4 p.m., just before a mile-wide wall of fire
crested the ridge, swept the hillside and ran south toward Interstate 90.
The three-day-old Black Cat fire then continued west as 20 mph gusts of wind carried the flames across expansive fields
of tinder-dry grass, igniting abandoned houses and trailers, and junker trucks.
Scott Kautz and his two children caught their ride down the winding dirt road just 30 minutes before flames rolled over the
ridge toward their home, nestled at the top of Fred Lane. Fortunately, the family had already packed its bags, having learned
the need for vigilance on Wednesday when the Missoula County Sheriff's Department issued the first pre-evacuation notice.
“Half of our home is already packed,” Kautz said. “It looks like we're just getting moved in - it's just a shell in there right now.”
And while Kautz could see the tops of flames dancing behind the ridge on Wednesday night, calmer winds prevented the fire
from making a run then. The forecast on Thursday proved more severe, however, and flames quickly jumped the ridge's south
side as Missoula Rural Fire crews stood by, less than three-quarters of a mile from the flame front, trying to protect an
abandoned home just above the Kautz residence.
“It's all depending on the wind right now,” said Paul Finlay, a firefighter, just moments before a 2-acre spot fire sprang up ahead
of the main fire front.
Down the road, George Jones and his wife, Celeste, doused the roof of their home with water from a garden hose. Having
previously dug a fire line around their property, they hoped a wet roof would extinguish any rogue embers.
“We have a pretty good line, and we're thinking the fire will skirt around the hill to the east,” Jones said, standing atop his home
of 27 years. “If we thought it was a threat, we wouldn't be here.”
Howie Lemm rode out the fire in his own front yard on Fred Lane, though he expected the heat might force him to take refuge in
his well pit. The flames scorched prairie grasses right up to Lemm's driveway, 50 feet from the house he's almost finished building,
before edging closer to U.S. Highway 93 north and adjacent neighborhoods.
“I'm counting on the fact that it's a grass fire and once it jumps over I could come back out of the well pit,” he said.
A short while later, a sudden gust of wind sent flames directly at his home, and a half-dozen fire officials jumped in their vehicles
and raced down the road to safety.
Nearby, other firefighters prepared to battle a burning house and barn. Blue sparks arced from the home's power supply. The
flames quickly reached the roadside.
Late in the afternoon, the Black Cat fire's eastern activity forced O'Keefe Creek residents to scramble into pre-evacuation mode,
hastily packing up belongings before officials told them it was officially time to leave.
Meanwhile, the Montana Highway Patrol intermittently closed Highway 93. As of 6 p.m., however, the highway was open to north
and southbound traffic.
Resources continued arriving at the fire, including a ground crew from New Mexico who patrolled Fred Lane on foot, scouting the
hillsides for hot spots.
One 20-person crew was on scene earlier in the day, and three additional crews arrived by late evening, according to a Web site
updated by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Near the intersection of Fred Lane and Frenchtown Frontage Road, Frenchtown Fire Chief Scott Waldron, a flare in one hand, leaned
over and set a grassy field on fire, then hustled off as the force of the backburn saved at least one home.
Accurate mapping of the Black Cat fire has been a challenge for officials, due largely to the heavy smoke inversion, which has limited
aerial observation.
Fire managers have conservatively estimated the fire to be 850 acres - a number expected to rise significantly as mapping accuracy
improves.
A total of 118 personnel were working the fire as of Thursday night, and no injuries have been reported to date.
Structures burn in Black Cat Fire; Mandatory evacuations still in place
Photo Courtesy of Ed Lovrien
Photo Courtesy of Ed Lovrien
Three mobile homes have been destroyed after high winds pushed the Black Cat Fire which is burning near Evaro out
of the forest and officials say over 200 other homes are threatened by the 850 acre blaze.
Meanwhile residents who live in the Mill Creek area in Frenchtown are still evacuated. They pulled out after late Thursday
afternoon's high winds pushed the blaze toward a cluster of about 60 homes in the Fred Lane subdivision and O'Keefe
Creek Boulevard. Mandatory evacuations also remain in effect for residents along Grooms Road, Ryan Lane, Thornburg
Way and Faye's Route and overall the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that some 300 residents have
been ordered to leave the area.
It was a very intense night for fire fighters battling this unpredictable fire with Missoula County Sheriff's Department
Lieutenant Brad Giffin telling us that the fire has indeed burned some structures.
On Thursday winds gusting up to 45 mph pushed the fire south and east which forced officials to order additional
evacuations. Friday morning officials say the fire is currently burning about a mile off of U.S. Highway 93 North and fire
crews are standing by for structure protection.
Spot fires pushed ahead of the blaze Thursday evening which ignited brush and grass fires near Fred Lane. Firefighters
stood their ground and protected structures in the area and by around 8:00 p.m. most of the fire's spread had been
contained thanks to helicopters dropping water on the flames.
The southwest part of the fire pushed toward Interstate 90 and many homes. Officials tell us the speed limit in the area
ranges between 35 mph 45 mph in the fire area and are asking people not to pullover to watch the fire because it creates
a safety hazard. August 16, 2007
Structures burned in Black Cat Fire; mandatory evacuations in place
Missoula County Sheriff's Lieutenant Brad Giffin says the Black Cat fire has burned some structures but he cannot confirm
how many. He says the evacuation orders have the potential to expand by the minute.
Missoula County Sheriff's officials say evacuation orders can change in a moment's notice with a shift of the winds. Right now
authorities are telling residents who live within a half mile to a mile of the Black Cat fire to get prepared to evacuate. This is not
an official pre-evacuation warning but some advice from authorities on the scene. Authorities say because of gusty winds it is
difficult to gauge where the fire is heading.
Sheriff's Lieutenant Giffin tells us heavy air tankers and two helicopters were unable to refill for water drops because onlookers
were parking too close to the dipping site.
Sheriff's officials say people are stopping to look and take pictures and are threatening the firefighting effort. Also, there are
dozens of people trying to evacuate so it is critical for people not to drive or stop in the area unless there is an emergency.
Photo Courtesy of Ed Lovrien
Photo Courtesy of Ed Lovrien
August 15, 2007
Photo Courtesy Michael Gallacher
A difficult day on the Black Cat fire got even rougher Wednesday evening when a wind shift stirred
up the fire's southern flank, forcing firefighters to extend the air attack on the blaze into the late evening.
Black Cat fire tops 600 acres
Crews fight to keep blaze from jumping highway
By Rob Chaney - Missoulian
The smoke was gray-white and diffuse when the Black Cat fire information meeting started at Frenchtown
Rural Fire Station No. 7 on Wednesday evening.
As the meeting was heading into a question-and-answer period at about 7:09, a half-dozen pagers beeped.
By 7:34, Frenchtown Rural Fire Chief Scott Waldron was jumping into his command rig and the tower of smoke
had turned dense brown.
“It's shifted to the south, just where we thought it wasn't going,” incident commander Bruce Reed said. That's
been the case with the Black Cat fire on Evaro Hill west of Missoula. It was just a quarter-acre when it was first
reported at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. Twenty-four hours later, it was 600 acres and 30 families had been evacuated
from the west side of U.S. Highway 93 North. Twenty more are on 30-minute notice.
About 100 people packed into the fire station Wednesday evening to hear the latest on the effort to save their
homes. In and around them were some of the roughly 20 Frenchtown Rural, Ninemile Ranger District and state
firefighters who have been eating Black Cat smoke for the past 36 hours. Most of them had been pulled off duty
just before the meeting started, with orders to get some sleep and return at 7 a.m. Thursday.
“They're bushed,” one smoke-streaked U.S. Forest Service worker said. “It's time to take your marbles and be
happy with what you got with the day.”
Reed and Waldron were pretty happy with what they got from such limited resources. They've been able to push
bulldozer line across much of the fire's northeastern edge and are working down its eastern flank, which parallels
the highway. Retardant planes have been working on the southern flank, where the fire is headed for the big grassy
knob that marks the west side of Evaro Hill.
The biggest worry now is a line of thunderstorms predicted to move in Thursday afternoon or Friday. They are
expected to pack wind gusts of up to 60 mph. That's more than enough to blow flaming embers across the highway
and into the thick timber below Montana Snowbowl and Mercer Lane.
“Whatever we can to do keeping it from crossing 93 - that's a big deal,” Waldron said. “There's unbroken fuel there
all the way to the Rattlesnake Wilderness.”
Also blowing in Thursday should be the command staff of a Type 1 incident management team. With them, Reed
hoped, will also come the ground crews, engines, tankers and other gear he's ordered. Most of the aircraft and
engines on the scene Wednesday are part of initial-attack teams that must move out the minute another new fire
becomes a major threat.
The situation was slightly deja vu for Steve and Melissa Wurm and their daughter, Emily. They moved into their new
home about two miles north of the fire's edge just a year ago. Before that, they lived in Texas and had to evacuate
for Hurricane Rita.
“We said we've had enough of this, so we moved,” Melissa Wurm said of the previous fight with Mother Nature. “But I
don't care. Rita was worse. We had a million people trying to evacuate on one lane of road. I love Montana anyway.”
Emily had other concerns. Her seventh birthday is just two days away, and the family's not sure where they'll be
staying by then.
“We were thinking of going to Glacier (National Park),” she said. “That would be OK.”
Missoula County Undersheriff Mike Dominick asked the audience for understanding with the displacement. Deputies
will be patrolling the highway and back roads to ensure no one messes with residents' properties, he said. They're
also gathering information on where to place portable water supplies, what structures need protection and the location
of ponds or other places helicopters might refill their water buckets.
And he requested everyone stay clear of the area to avoid blocking firefighting equipment or getting caught unaware by
a sudden change in the fire's direction.
“There's nothing you can do if the fire switches,” Dominick said. “Don't think we'll be able to save you if you go back in.”
Photo Courtesy of John Mazzola
Photo Courtesy Philip Maney
Black Cat Fire burning; Public meeting slated
Aug 15, 2007
Black Cat Fire keeps burning; Evacuations still in place
Photo Courtesy Jason Rocheleau
Residents of about 30 homes southwest of Evaro are sitting on the sidelines as the Black Cat Fire continues to burn.
The lightning sparked fire has now reached 600 acres and is 0% contained.
Evacuation orders remain in effect for the area west of U.S. Highway 93 North between mile marker 3.5 and mile
marker 6.5, from Bear Grass Road north to O'Keefe which also includes the Grooms Road Area. Missoula County
Sheriff's deputies have been posted at those areas to assist residents.
Photo Courtesy of Dusty Wittmeir
Meanwhile U.S. Highway 93 North is open but fire officials say that may change as the smoke conditions change.
So far there are no reports of injuries or structures burned because of the blaze.
Photo Courtesy of Dusty Wittmeir
A Type 2 Incident Management Team has been ordered to fight the fire and Red Cross officials have set up an
evacuation shelter at DeSmet Elementary School.
A public meeting on the Black Cat Fire has been set for 7:00 p.m. at the Frenchtown Rural Fire Department Station #7
which is located on Ladyslipper Lane.
Wildfires continue to burn across Montana including 20 in Western Montana and to
date nearly 400,000 acres have burned this fire season, the equivalent to over half
of the state of Rhode Island.
