Power Line Falls, Sparks Fire Near Frenchtown

First responders from the Forest Service, DNRC, and Frenchtown Rural Fire District were called up around 7:30 this morning after a homeowner in the Lackman Loop area reported hearing an explosion and seeing a fire start in the woods near his home.

"Upon our arrival, one of the power poles was down through Missoula electrical, which ended up causing a small fire," Frenchtown Firefighter Mel Holtz said. "We did get that controlled and contained. There were no structures threatened. Our crews were on scene fairly quickly, and they were able to get wet liner on that. We couldn't get to parts of it because we had live wires in the area."

The electrical pole appears to be what caused the problem.

"It appears that the base of the power pole may have been rot," Holtz said. "The homeowner had called to have them look at it. They had come out, and planned on replacing the pole. It appears that it tipped over before they could replace it."

Holtz says fire response calls have been ramping up in recent days and that rural firefighters are worried about what might happen when lightning storms begin to roll in.