Two New Small Fires Reported in Bitterroot National Forest

Firefighters are working to suppress two small wildfires spotted in the Bitterroot National Forest that were discovered on Saturday.

Public Information Officer Tod McKay provides details about both fires on Sunday morning.

“We have two small fires that we did suspect were holdovers from the last lightning storms that moved through the area last week,” said McKay. “The first is the Little Rock Creek Fire and it’s estimated at just a tenth of an acre located just southwest of Lake Como. The good news is that it was contained. Just about an hour ago it was called in as contained. Thos four firefighters rappelled into the area from a helicopter on Saturday night.”

McKay said the second fire is located in a very familiar area to hikers and backpackers, Blodgett Canyon.

“It’s all the way at the top of that canyon between Blodgett Lake and Blodgett Pass, and is currently estimated at three tenths of an acre,” he said. “We have eight firefighters on the scene of that fire, four of which did rappel into the area from a helicopter on Saturday night, while four more were flown in from our Stevensville Ranger District this morning. It’s burning in very steep, rugged, rocky terrain, so the firefighters are working with the assistance of a helicopter that is dropping buckets of water to suppress and control that fire.”

McKay said firefighters have responded to 30 lightning wildfires and 10 human caused fires this summer on the Bitterroot National Forest.  Due to the quick response of crews, all fires were kept under 1 acre is size.