Montana Fire Evacuees Get Brief Visits to Homes, Crews Brace for Worsening Weather

Monday, August 6th 2007, 8:13 pm

By: News On 6

SEELEY LAKE, Mont. (AP) -- Residents who fled a large wildfire burning in southwestern Montana were briefly allowed to return Monday to check on their homes and gather belongings as firefighters braced for worsening weather.

Some 675 homes have been evacuated and more than 28 square miles have burned since the fire near Seeley Lake began Friday about 50 miles northeast of Missoula. The cause was under investigation.

More than 200 firefighters arrived to help the 70 already assigned to the blaze. Dry lightning was a possibility for Monday night, and humidity was expected to drop Tuesday, creating hot and dry conditions.

Firefighters were taking the unusual step of building containment lines in advance of the fire, rather than attacking it from the sides.

``We're trying to build lines ahead of the fire because the town is in the way and people's homes,'' said Ricardo Zuniga, a fire information officer.

So far, one house has been destroyed and another damaged. A commercial building and seven outbuildings were also damaged.

Linda Weaver and her husband were among a handful of evacuees camping at a highway rest stop Monday. The couple had cut short their vacation in Washington state when they heard about the fire and returned to pack up their Seeley Lake home.

``We'll go back when they tell us we can go back,'' she said. ``I hope it's soon.''

Missoula County Undersheriff Mike Dominick said a few people chose to remain despite the order. Montanans tend to think of themselves as self-sufficient and some ``believe that their residence won't be affected or that they can fight the fire,'' he said.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer declared a state of emergency Sunday. More than a dozen large wildfires were active in the state.

A wildfire north of Thompson Falls in northwest Montana had charred an estimated 40,000 acres, or 62.5 square miles, by Monday morning.

Cool temperatures and favorable wind in California helped crews battling a huge wildfire in Santa Barbara County that was more than a month old and had flared during the weekend. Evacuation orders remained in effect for a handful of areas.

Southwesterly wind was moving the fire into wilderness and away from homes and buildings, fire spokesman Jim Lopez said.

That wildfire, in mountainous Los Padres National Forest about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, had covered about 67,000 acres, roughly 105 square miles. It was 68 percent contained Monday morning, with full containment expected Sept. 7, Lopez said.

A fire in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula pushed past fire lines and grew to about 14,000 acres or 22 square miles amid windy, dry weather with temperatures in the 80s, the state said Monday.

No injuries had been reported, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Several structures in the area were threatened and precautionary evacuations were order for an area near Pine Stump Junction, but it was not immediately clear how many people were affected.