ELMO — Many remember the Elmo Fire, which burned more than 21,000 acres in 2022.
The Niarada Fire followed the next summer, reaching more than 20,000 acres.
Other fires in past years and since have sparked the question: Why does Elmo experience wildfires almost every summer?
MTN spoke with Brendeon Schoening, chief of the Chief Cliff Volunteer Fire Department, for answers.
Chief Cliff covers Elmo, Proctor, Dayton and surrounding areas.
Schoening has responded to human- and weather-caused fires, including the Elmo, Big Draw, Niarada and Elmo 2 fires.
"When you're feeling it and breathing it and getting burned by it, you kind of see how it works," Schoening said.
He has lived in the area his whole life and said the lack of cell service nearby means a fire can spread hundreds of acres before anyone reports it.
"I was always taught you can put out any fire with a five-gallon bucket of water if you can get there fast enough. But, it's a delay issue up there. When you show up on scene and the thing's already 400 acres, might have taken you 10, 15 minutes to get there, it's pretty hard to combat that," Schoening detailed.
Another factor is terrain, since much of it is steep, which makes firefighting on the ground difficult.
"Once it gets out of the valley floor up into the hillside, it's really too steep to fight. So then we got to pretty much rely on heavy on air resources," Schoening explained.
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Plus, south-facing grasses dry quickly in the sun. Without grazing, Schoening said, they are just waiting for a spark to ignite.
"The problem with the grass fires over there, they're wind-driven, that's the big engine. And then when it hits the hillside and the trees, it just takes, it's hard to put out," Schoening said.
Schoening said crews contain more than 75% of fires each year. On the rare occasion a fire spreads, it has consumed thousands of acres.
MTN will explore this topic further next week with insight from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire.
