High Winds Feared: Fires Threaten Montana Towns

Firefighters today feared that resurgent winds up to 40 m.p.h. would push flames or sparks from vast Yellowstone National Park wildfires over protective “back-burn” areas and torch three small tourist towns in Montana, as well as a campground in Idaho.

The National Weather Service said the wind was expected to kick up in the late afternoon, causing a critical period in the war against the 61,300-acre Storm Creek fire at the northeastern end of Yellowstone.

Back-burn buffer zones, covering 45 square miles, were created by controlled burning and bulldozing to protect evacuated Silver Gate, Cooke City and West Yellowstone in Montana.

Nearing Silver Gate

Authorities said the Storm Creek fire was just 2 miles from Silver Gate. They said a 3/4-mile buffer zone had been established there. The flames were 5 miles from Cooke City, which is 3 miles east of Silver Gate.

“We have about a 25% chance of holding the fire out of these two communities,” David Liebersbach, incident commander in Silver Gate, said on NBC-TV’s “Today” show this morning.

“With these winds, it will be heroic, a real success to save some of these buildings,” said fire information officer Pat Kaunert.

About 300 people were evacuated from the mountain hamlets during the Labor Day weekend. A few remained, but those were ordered out today when the Park County Sheriff’s Department declared a state of emergency there.

Areas Wet Down

A force of 1,200 firefighters with 35 engines was in place to wet down the threatened areas in the event that sparks and flames jump the barren, protective zones.

“I’m trusting the professionals involved in this will do what they can do,” Ralph Glidden, owner of the Cooke City Store, said. “Obviously there is going to be fire through here, and they’ll be as successful as they can in protecting the structures, considering the science of the fire.”

A team of 150 to 200 firefighters with eight bulldozers was deployed as a wall of defense for the Island Park Recreation Area in Idaho’s Targhee National Forest. Campsites in the area were evacuated during the weekend when they became threatened by the North Fork fire in Yellowstone across the border in Wyoming.

More than 50 brush and forest fires have ravaged Yellowstone since the start of summer. Fewer than 10 remain out of control. There were 9,600 firefighters deployed at the trouble spots.

The Boise Interagency Fire Center in Idaho reported that 39 fires had charred 1.23 million acres in Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Utah and Nevada.