Sentinel scorched: Grass fire erupts, searing more than 300 acres on mountain
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian
Watch a video of Wednesday night's wildfire on Mount Sentinel
Missoula staked out ringside seats Wednesday night as ground crews and a water-dropping helicopter converged on Mount Sentinel to prevent a 300-acre grass fire from spreading into thick timber.
But the fire did not easily give up its march across the hillside.
At midnight, about 30 firefighters were working up the fire's flanks, digging line in an effort to pinch flames off at the top of Sentinel, expecting to stay on the mountain until dawn.
A fire on Mount Sentinel glows on the hillside behind the clock tower of Main Hall on the University of Montana campus late Wednesday night. Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Meanwhile, fire bosses worked to pull in extra resources - three water-dropping helicopters and possibly an air tanker - to work the fire on Thursday.
“Tomorrow will be an interesting day, with warm weather and heavy winds,” said Cindy Super, fire prevention coordinator for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
The fire started about 7 p.m. Wednesday at the base of Mount Sentinel behind the University of Montana's married student housing complex, apparently by two children.
“I don't know if it was matches or lighters or fireworks - I believe they were playing with something,” Super said.
The flames moved quickly in the grass and brush, and left firefighters to battle active northern and southern flanks.
“People really had a false sense of security, thinking it was wetter than it is,” Super said. “This is a pretty serious wake-up call.”
At day's end, crews hoped not only to stop the fire at the top of Sentinel, but to keep the flanks from converging in a woody draw midway across the mountain.
Darkness brought some relief, with cooler temperatures and downslope winds. As the fire reached the top of the mountain, the flames dropped and winds pushed them back on themselves - rather than over the top into Hellgate or Pattee canyons.
No homes were threatened.
Given the steep pitch of the mountain, Missoula Fire Chief Tom Steenberg said air support would be critical to eventually snuffing the fire. “That's what is going to put this out,” he said.
Only one helicopter was immediately available, and the chopper started dropping buckets of water on the wildfire within an hour of its start. By 8:15 p.m., flames had covered close to 60 acres, then to 100 acres a half-hour later.
City fire crews, smokejumpers from the U.S. Forest Service, and state wildland firefighters converged on the hillside, digging fireline and running hose up the mountain, skirting both edges of the fire. The wall of flames was moving uphill, burning in grass and brush and in wooded gullies leading to the summit.
One hiker coming down Mount Sentinel on the popular “M” trail said she and her two friends saw thick black smoke curling toward them, and used their cell phone to call a friend, who is a wildland firefighter.
Sarah Blakey said her friend immediately told her to get down off the mountain. Missoula police were charged with a similar task, as dozens of people were on Mount Sentinel when the fire erupted, and made the descent to safety in no particular hurry.
As Blakey and others came down the hillside, the recent UM graduate said, “we could feel the water from the bucket on us. That was pretty cool.”
Deer also were trying to move off the mountain, with a number of animals running through the blackened grass, caroming off of green bushes in a frantic search for safer haven.
The flames, smoke and firefighting efforts were visible throughout the Missoula Valley, and the audience at an evening band concert in Bonner Park turned their lawn chairs toward the mountain to watch the fire. Meanwhile, hundreds of people lined the bottom of the mountain at married student housing, where the first helicopter staged just before 8 p.m.
At Ogren-Allegiance Park, baseball fans alternated their views between the Osprey game and the glowing spectacle across town on Sentinel.
The city of Missoula Fire Department had three engines stationed high on the hillside, while DNRC employed three more.
Rob Thames, Missoula park superintendent, guessed that the fire burned mostly on city-owned land, but expects that a patchwork of privately-owned land would be affected by the blaze.
