Evacuations Urged Near Glacier Park as Fire Advances

With smoke billowing from an approaching wildfire, officials sounded the sirens Monday to evacuate communities near the west entrance to Glacier National Park.

Flames threatened to close U.S. Highway 2, considered the main escape route.

Volunteers went door-to-door starting about 6 p.m. in the town of West Glacier and surrounding areas, asking residents to evacuate to a nearby emergency shelter. Officials estimated that about 200 homes and 24 businesses stand in harm’s way if the 10,000-acre Robert fire continues its westward march.

Firefighters had planned to start a defensive “burnout” of 5,000 acres today, but the unexpected advance of the fire forced workers to begin the intentional burn immediately. Firefighters were expected to work through the night Monday in hopes of drawing the Robert fire away from West Glacier and Highway 2.

“This happens in the fire business,” said Bill Beebe, lead fire information officer. He told a packed audience of concerned residents Monday night at Columbia Falls Junior High School that the blaze “forced our hand.”

Outside the school, a forbidding, oddly shaped mushroom cloud billowed and filled the sky with gunmetal gray smoke. Plumes from other wildfires in the area also streaked into the sky.

Officials were hoping not to have to resort to the intentional burnout because such tactics come with the risk that the backfire itself could grow out of control. But the Robert fire, which had not progressed dramatically Friday and Saturday, picked back up Sunday. Winds increased and temperatures rose into the mid-90s.

The fire crossed the “trigger point” -- a line that, once touched by fire, forces an evacuation -- late Monday afternoon. The trigger point in this case was Rubideau Creek, two miles from West Glacier.

Fire officials said the region is in the midst of a five-year drought, which has created the worst fire conditions in more than 40 years.

The Robert fire is one of three major blazes in and around the park. So far, they have blackened an estimated 45,000 acres.

The Robert fire began July 23 eight miles north of here, and has burned more than 10,000 acres in the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park.

A second fire had charred nearly 19,000 acres in the northwest part of the Glacier, six miles from the Canadian border. This blaze has destroyed five homes and 19 outbuildings. A third fire has burned 16,000 acres in a remote part of the park north of Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Only essential personnel remained at the park’s headquarters in West Glacier on Monday night, and much of the western half of the park has been closed to the public during what normally would be peak tourist season.

Glacier National Park encompasses 1,500 square miles of some of Montana’s most picturesque landscapes. Joe Stamm, one of the incident commanders, said firefighters will proceed very carefully with the backfires to avoid unnecessary damage.

The plan late Monday was to drop incendiary devices from the air, setting ablaze areas in the direct path of the wildfire, thereby burning up all its fuel. Officials hoped to redirect the Robert fire in a northwesterly direction, away from West Glacier.

Meanwhile, the American Red Cross set up an emergency shelter for evacuees in the town of Whitefish, just a few miles northwest of here.

More than 250 beds were available at North Valley Hospital, where evacuees were expected to stay until the Robert fire is no longer a threat.