Needed rain eases Glacier’s wildfire

Associated Press

WEST GLACIER, Mont. — Desperately needed rain began falling Wednesday on a wildfire that burned into Glacier National Park, giving firefighters hope and breaking more than two weeks of hot, dry and windy weather that favored the fire.

"God’s smiling down on us," Bill Paxton said as he and other fire information officers watched the rain from a fire camp in Columbia Falls, just outside the park.

But fire bosses warned that the showers were not enough to drown flames that have burned 64,000 acres in northwestern Montana, including more than 14,000 acres in the park.

Firefighters awoke to intermittent showers and cool temperatures Wednesday morning. "We woke up with wet pants and wet ground," said Chadeen Palmer, a fire information officer.

By late morning, the showers had turned to a steady, constant rain, and a sky that had been faded brown by smoke for days turned dark and overcast with heavy rain clouds for the first time since the fire began.

"This rain is going to stop the (growth) to almost nothing," said fire information officer Bob McKinney. "It won’t put it out, but it won’t spread very much either."

The rain and cooler temperatures were a welcome change for the more than 1,000 firefighters whose efforts to beat back the flames have been hampered by hot, dry weather and strong winds. On Labor Day, fire bosses yanked all firefighters off the lines and grounded their air attack because of high winds.

The blaze, which began outside the park on Aug. 14, still is considered only about 5 percent contained, but crews expected to gain ground Wednesday. Forecasts through today call for more cool temperatures and the possibility of more rain.

Incident Commander Larry Humphrey said forecasts indicated the area could get as much as half an inch of rain in coming days.

But fire information officer Gil Knight said it would take at least an inch of rain to make a major difference.

Several dozen buildings, including private homes, park buildings, barns and outbuildings, remained threatened by the Glacier blaze, officials said. Humphrey estimated the bill for fighting the fire at about $7 million.

In central Montana, two fires, one of which authorities believe was started by children playing with a lighter, have burned more than 4,000 acres in the Little Belt Mountains. An evacuation warning was in effect for an area outside the small community of Monarch, but no one was ordered to leave home

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 17 major fires burning on more than 197,000 acres in the West on Wednesday.