Lolo Peak fire's 4-mile run spurs new evacuations
The Lolo Peak fire exploded to 15,090 acres Thursday, after making a four-mile run in the Mormon Creek area overnight.
"In just a few hours, westerly winds moved the fire approximately 4 miles to the east on the ridge north of Carlton Lake and into the top of the Mormon Creek drainage," fire managers reported on InciWeb, the U.S. Forest Services' Incident Information System.
Throughout the day Thursday, torching trees were visible from Highway 93, with fire behavior described as "very active due to the hot and dry weather." According to the Forest Service, people can expect to see "single tree and group torching, short uphill crown runs with spotting" between a half mile and a mile.
Despite the quick movement of the fire last night, the mood around the incident command center and on the fire line was calm Thursday. Firefighters have had a month to create their strategy for fighting the Lolo Peak fire, and were ready to implement it.
Read more: http://ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and-regional/article_7bed8f4b-14e5-54ef-afbd-1fd94eef022e.html