Wildfire smoke continuing to slow Caribou fire
(Courtesy map) This map of the Caribou fire was released Thursday morning.
LIBBY, Mont. — The silver lining of the cough-causing wildfire smoke covering Lincoln County is that it is helping limit the growth of the very wildfires that are causing it. In the northern part of Lincoln County, a fact sheet released Thursday morning said the day-over-day increase of the Caribou fire was only 646 acres — from 19,985 to 20,631.
In addition, containment remained at 10 percent while assigned personnel increased by 23 to 218, the fact sheet states. Tuesday’s cooler temperatures and lighter winds, followed by Wednesday’s high pressure system, in addition to the continued heavy smoke cover, were credited with reducing fire activity.
The smoke that helps to dampen fire effects also delays the use of additional air resources that have been assigned to the fire.
“Aircraft will not be able to resume operations until smoke clears and visibility improves,” the fact sheet states.
Weather forecasts indicated a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms Friday to Saturday night.
On the ground Thursday, crews used heavy equipment to improve the fireline to the south, west and north of West Kootenai, while firefighters built direct fireline west of Road 303 toward Marias, the fact sheets states.
On the ground Wednesday, crews used heavy equipment to improve the fireline southeast and north of West Kootenai, and extend the southern contingency fireline south of the community. Crews also continued patrolling at night to protect homes.
A Wednesday morning fact sheet reports that the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office had announced 10 homes and 30 outbuildings were lost to the Caribou fire when it made a run over the weekend.
An evacuation order remains in effect for the West Kootenai area north of Tooley Lake, while the Basin Creek area and areas south of Tooley Lake are under pre-evacuation notice.
The Caribou fire is located 21 miles northwest of Eureka and was caused by lightning on Aug. 11, according to an Inciweb incident information web page. About 11 percent of the fire is in Canada.
The Caribou fire is one of four significant fires happening in Lincoln County. The others are the West Fork fire, the Moose Peak fire and the Gibralter Ridge fire.