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Wildfire near Essex now at 310 acres

Posted at 9:53 AM, Aug 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-15 11:53:10-04

KALISPELL – The Paola Ridge fire northwest of Essex on the Flathead National Forest has grown to 310 acres.

The blaze, which was sparked by lightning on August 11th, is burning in steep terrain with subalpine forest and brushy avalanche chutes.

A Type 1 Management Team has been ordered and will begin managing the fire, along with other fires in the area on Thursday.

Fire behavior has been single and group tree torching; rolling out limited distances followed up by short uphill runs.

Fire managers say that the fire acreage increased earlier this week primarily due to accurate mapping.

There are no evacuation warnings in place for this incident.

Stage II Fire Restrictions are going into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday on the Flathead National Forest and in Glacier National Park.