SEELEY LAKE - More than 450 fire personnel are working on the Colt Fire burning northwest of Seeley Lake, attacking the blaze from both ground and air.
“So, it’s been a full suppression fire from the beginning,” said Northern Rockies Incident Management Team Public Information Officer Tim Engrav.
Engrav said constantly changing winds are moving the fire in different directions.
“Typically starts from the south or southwest and then moves into a westerly wind direction kind of in mid-afternoon and then later in the afternoon and evenings it turns to the northwest.”
He said high winds are amplifying fire activity, leading to different firefighting tactics throughout the day.
“When wind speeds get too high helicopters and airplanes can’t safely fly so we do take that all into consideration in the firefighting efforts.”
Despite zero containment, Engrav said crews are making progress on the fire, carving indirect fire control lines, and reducing ground fuels which helps stop the fire from advancing.
“Where there are opportunities to go direct and to do that safely the fire crews are looking at those to be able to work along the fire edge, it still might be a couple of days before we start to see numbers reported.”
