OLNEY — The Skillet Fire in the Flathead National Forest continues to burn in steep and rugged terrain west of Whitefish.
On Monday the reported size of the fire grew more than 1,000 acres since infrared mapping was last done on Saturday.
More than 240 firefighting personnel are working on the Skillet Fire about 15 miles west of Olney.
The Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team Seven took command of the Skillet Fire on Sunday which as of Monday has burned close to 2,500 acres.
Public Information Officer Candy Stevenson said evacuation orders remain in place for homes in the Good Creek and Alder Creek area.
“So we know about approximately 70 addresses were in that evacuation area,” said Stevenson.
Stevenson said crews are using heavy equipment to clear out forest service roads giving firefighters better access to construct containment lines.
She said fire crews are taking advantage of cooler weather to start the week and hope to bring back aircraft assistance after flights were unable to operate over the weekend due to wind and smoke.
“But we should be able to get those up today, so that helps the firefighters on the ground to start getting that containment and get areas of the fire where they can actually start working and creating a line,” said Stevenson.
She said the fire is 0% contained and the cause is still under investigation.
She expects the fire to continue to burn for the foreseeable future as heavy timber and blowdown trees from winter windstorms create plenty of fuel.
“It would take a really longstanding wetting rain for it to actually go out, so we don’t expect this fire to go out, what we’re trying to do is get around the fire, get containment lines in as soon as possible, but that’s just difficult in this terrain,” said Stevenson.
