Two Small Fires Sparked in Bitterroot National Forest – Ravalli County Remains Under ‘Moderate’ Fire Danger

Two small fires sparked recently in the Bitterroot National Forest. Todd McKay said thankfully, crews caught both fires early and remain relatively small in size.

"One is on the Darby Ranger District. It's the Chaffin Creek Fire. It's about two miles north of Trapper Peak. We've got three firefighters on that and they're just continuing to mop that up. It was contained [Wednesday] night," McKay said. "The second fire is the West Creek Fire and it's burning on the West Fork Ranger District about a mile northeast of West Mountain."

McKay said the West Creek Fire should be contained by the end of the day on Wednesday. But the bigger news is all of the lighting the Bitterroot has seen the past few days.

"We looked at the map this morning and we've had over 150 confirmed strikes just on our forest," McKay said. "So would not be surprised to see other fires as things warm up this week and get back to normal temperatures."

McKay said Ravalli County remains in "moderate" fire danger. There are still restrictions on open burning, but McKay said folks are allowed to have campfires on the forest and on their own property.