Sucker Creek Fire (Continued)

As of late last night, the Sucker Creek Fire had spread to only 150 acres in spite of burning in heavy timber.

Fires behave and misbehave in mystifying ways.

The Sucker Creek Fire essentially laid down for a while, marooned by calm weather and higher humidity.  Given a hot, dry day and a kick or two from the wind, the fire might easily get swept up and crown across the forest like flaming birds set free.

Years ago, a bad fire season and grim fire conditions in Idaho’s rugged Selway pushed the Pete King Fire through 161,000 acres of forest in a single day.  When a fire blows-up, flaming logs and snapped treetops and seemingly volcanic flames burst forth and spew across the mountains.  Weather systems build like atomic mushroom clouds overtop such blow-ups.

Firefighters have been trying to establish defensive lines around the Sucker Creek Fire.

The policy to actively fight all wildfires came over 100 years ago in 1910.  That summer, a horrific firestorm swept across Idaho’s panhandle and deep into Western Montana.  The firestorm of 1910 converted 3 million acres of forestland to ash in only two days.  Several small mountain towns were wiped-out entirely.  The fires left 85 people and innumerable forest and domestic animals dead.  That firestorm triggered both the public and the Forest Service (only five years young at the time) to adopt a policy of aggressively fighting any wildfire within reach and to make all attempts to reach them early.

If the weather conditions remain favorable and the terrain is not too rugged, the Sucker Creek Fire might be contained.  During the year 2000, when Montana seemed burning from end to end, I read quite a bit about wildland fires.  Some of the information seemed a bit obvious.  Fires travel faster uphill than downhill.  Cool temperatures and high humidity press fires down.  Somewhere along the line, I read a lengthy fire study.  I jotted down a few things I found interesting.  Posted below is part of what I found on a table for fire speeds.  The speeds are for calm conditions.  Obviously, strong winds will drive fires much faster.

I did not write down the source for this study.  I believe the study was conducted by the Forest Service.

--Mitchell Hegman