Bad wildfire near Seeley Lake... (Kalispell, Hot Springs: homeowners insurance, house, neighborhood)

[moodyblue]

Hello, this is my first time here!

I am kind of freaking out. My family has a cabin on Placid Lake and the sheriff's office has ordered evacuations. We have not been able to get any recent information except what is posted on the Missoulian website. We are all in-state but cannot get into the immediate area to find out what is going on.

Can anyone in the Seeley area let me know how the hard the wind is blowing, and in what direction? Any up-to-the-minute information?

Thank you ever so much!

[moodyblue]

Well, I got some information from one of our neighbors who attended a homeowners' meeting in Seeley. This fire is so volatile and burning in such dense fuel that the fire managers don't think they will be able to save any of the homes in the area if the fire reaches them. Nothing they are trying on the fire is working, and the fire is not behaving as they expected it to. Apparently the conditions have not been this bad in over 30 years. They had to move crews out of the direct line because it was too dangerous.

Not what I wanted to hear, but at least we got some information. We sort of knew it was only a matter of time before a big fire hit that area.

And it's only August 4, I'm afraid the worst is yet to come!

[gottabhappy]

I'm sorry folks...You probably have gone over this a hundred times and dont need to hear me say...but How disgusting is all this? Something has to be done to get these fires out as soon as we are aware of them.There has got to something...I know,keep people out of the woods, hmmmm...jk. Didn't a helecopter crash start this one, now? Jeeze, louise...Im sick of what damages to this land, country, planet we humans are doing accidentally or otherwise! Poor animals

[moodyblue]

Well, unfortunately there is absolutely nothing that can be done with a fire of this magnitude except maybe to pray! The forest is tinder dry and one teeny little spark could start a huge inferno. If you have never seen one of these fires up close it's hard to imagine the sheer power of one of these things. It is actually an awesome, fearsome sight.

The problem is that we have suppressed natural fires for so long that the forests are really unhealthy now. Too much downed and dead wood, too many trees.

These forests historically burned naturally and that kept the fuel load down so the catastrophic wildfires didn't happen as often. It's such an unnatural, unhealthy situation now that these huge fires will be happening with increasing frequency.

The forests actually NEED to burn, which is why they let so many of the fires just go and don't even TRY to suppress them. Of course if homes are threatened, that's another story.

We heard from a friend who is flying a chopper on the Jocko Fire and it's moving away from our place but moving toward the town of Seeley. It's now the number ONE priority wildfire in the country. I just looked at the Inci-Web and this fire has grown to over 8000 acres since Friday afternoon.

[rambrush]

Plus the bark beatle kill has really created a lot of additional fuel to burn.

[tablemtn]

Basically, the only thing you can do to prevent fire damage is to "push back" the tree cover from any occupied structures, by at least 100 yards. Basically, everything within 100 yards of the structure should be tree-free, and at least part of it should have minimal grasses or other shrubbery. Plus, all grasses and shrubbery should be kept at least 10 yards away from the house itself.

In addition, the forest within 300 to 1,000 yards of the structure should be 'de-brushed' - which is to say, the area around the trees should be cleared of anything but bare ground.

This is pretty much the best strategy for preventing fire damage. It is hard work, but it works.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by tablemtn

Basically, the only thing you can do to prevent fire damage is to "push back" the tree cover from any occupied structures, by at least 100 yards. Basically, everything within 100 yards of the structure should be tree-free, and at least part of it should have minimal grasses or other shrubbery. Plus, all grasses and shrubbery should be kept at least 10 yards away from the house itself.

In addition, the forest within 300 to 1,000 yards of the structure should be 'de-brushed' - which is to say, the area around the trees should be cleared of anything but bare ground.

This is pretty much the best strategy for preventing fire damage. It is hard work, but it works.

Good advice!
I try to tell people in my neighborhood this exact same thing, in fact I send them to the DNRC web site for instructions on structure protection but do they listen? No. We have 2 forestry guys that live here who suggest 30ft spacing between trees for their health and clear the ladder fuels for fire safety but I keep hearing "it ruins the forest" and it should be kept "natural".
Well, IMO you can thank the stay out of the forest, don't cut the trees or touch anything crowd for our current problems. It makes sooo much more sense to let all the timber burn instead of a rational harvest not to mention all the pollution put in the air from the smoke. Where is the global warming crowd yelling about stopping the fires?
Who is going to pay the carbon offset for this mess??

[Where'sMyCountry]

I'm on my way now to Montana to house hunt. Seeley Lake area is one of the areas I planned to investigate, along with Kalispell. Now I'm thinking I should hang out in Coeur d'Alene for some days until this fire disaster calms.

The fires are so awful. I hate the loss of animals and habitat for them that occurs.

Are the homeowners insurance rates real high in Montana since there are huge fires every year?

[jimj]

It will be more than a few days before the fire thing is over, it will take a season ending event (meaning rain and cool) for the fires to go out and that will be weeks at least. Homeowner insurance is not any higher that I know of, it all depends on how far you are from fire services.

[Rickers]

That chippy creek fire is burning down into the valley now, At the meeting in Hot Springs They seemed to freak a few folks out when they said if it jumps the line, Hot Springs has 50% chance of burning up.