Lawnmower Sparks Fire Near Missoula

Mill Creek

According to today’s Missoulian:

FRENCHTOWN – A wildfire sparked by a lawnmower northeast of here quickly spread to 720 acres on Thursday afternoon, displacing livestock and prompting authorities to issue evacuation notices to hundreds of homes.

The Mill Creek fire started in tinder-dry grass before blowing up across a ridge into scattered timber and homes. Air support arrived quickly and in force, hitting the fire with water and slurry as evacuees ran for cover.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, the fire was zero percent contained.

According to Inciweb the fire started around 2pm as the lawnmower apparently hit a rock and sparked.  The Missoula airport sits a few miles from the location of the fire and yesterday afternoon the airport reported a high temperature of 97 degrees, relative humidity down to 11% and winds gusting to 23 miles per hour.

Inciweb reports that the fire is burning in grass, brush and timber and around homes. So far, 175 firefighters are on the fire and it looks like helicopters and slurry bombers are also on the the fire. Maps indicate that the fire is burning on State of Montana land and private land and is heading headed Plum Creek Timber Company land and also US Forest Service land.  There’s also a chance that this fire will burn into the 2007 Black Cat fire area, as well as some recent Forest Service fuel-reduction projects. No word yet on the taxpayer cost of this human-caused fire. Today’s forecast for Missoula is for sunny skies and a high of 95 degrees.