HAMILTON — Crews have responded to several wildfires on the Bitterroot National Forest following hundreds of lighting strikes from Wednesday's storms.
Forest officials report that crews were able to knock down most of the fires, which are now contained and in the mop-up phase.
The Bitterroot National Forest provided the below information in an update on Friday afternoon.
In the last 24 hours, seven fires have been declared out, including:
- #LittleBlueJointFire in the West Fork, lighting caused
- #TenderfootSpringFire on the Darby District, lighting caused
- #OverwhichFire in the West Fork, lighting caused
- #HorseCreekFire, 2.5 miles west of Florence, lightning caused
- #EastForkFire, located east of Springer Memorial Community on the Darby-Sula District, lightning caused.
- #ChrismasTreeFire, in the West Fork south of Lookout Moutain
- #ForkFire, in the Burnt Fork drainage in Stevensville
Firefighters are continuing to mop up (extinguishing any remaining hot spots) on nine fires, including the #DeerHollowFire southwest of Darby, the remote #JohnsonFire, 2.5 miles south of McCart Lookout in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, and the #RailroadFire off Skalkaho-Rye Road #75.
The #BassCreekFire (5 acres), west of Florence, is still an active fire. Resources include an Incident Commander, a 6-person suppression module, the Lolo and Lewis & Clark National Forests Hotshot Crews, a fixed-wing aircraft, and two helicopters. Firefighters will continue constructing fire line today, supported by aviation resources.
