Copper King Fire Near Thompson Falls Expands to 700 Acres, Suspected to be Human Caused

Just like the Roaring Lion Fire south of Missoula, the Copper King Fire to the North near Thompson Falls began on Sunday and strong winds pushed it quickly to over 700 acres. Fire information officer John Hamilton says the fire is suspected to be human caused.

"We do not know the cause of the fire yet," Hamilton said. "We have not had any lightning in the area and we do have have an investigator there now looking at the area  to see if he can tell how the fire started. We did have reports of human activity over there yesterday afternoon prior to the incident. We suspect humans but we're not sure."

Hamilton says the blaze exhibited extreme behavior, crowning as it was driven by 40 mile per hour winds. Luckily the winds drove the fire away from nearby homes.

"There are some nearby, they're across the Thompson River from the incident near the heel of the fire, near the place where it started," Hamilton said. " So it's sort of cooling out near the place where it started. You know its moving up the hill and away from those right now, but if we had a wind shift hat could change the game. We have triage and we have  talk to the landowner."

So far, there have been no structures destroyed and no homes evacuated due to the Copper King Fire. A type two incident management team took over management of the fire yesterday evening.