Incident Overview
Trail and road closures in the vicinity of the Table Mountain Fire 20 miles southwest of Philipsburg were lifted Wednesday.
The Lolo Hotshots fire crew woke Wednesday morning to find 2 inches of snow on their tents at the Table Mountain Fire 20 miles southwest of Philipsburg. Wednesday they unwrapped cabins in the Frogpond Basin area that had been wrapped to protect them from fire. They also rehabilitated short sections of fireline that had been built to keep the Table Mountain Fire from burning toward Frogpond Basin. The Lolo Hotshots left on Thursday.
The Table Mountain Fire will be managed by crews from the Pintler Ranger District of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
Firefighters succeeded in keeping the fire away from private lands and 11 cabins in Frogpond Basin. Otherwise the fire was managed for resource benefits, which means that it was monitored in accordance with plans that established when firefighters would intervene to protect public or firefighter safety or to stop the fire from burning onto private property.
The Table Mountain Fire, which has left a mosaic patchwork of burned and unburned forest within the Sapphire Mountains Wilderness Study Area, has broken up what would otherwise have been continuous forest fuels. The risk of catastrophic fire is greatly reduced when trees are not all the same age.
The fire area is in the headwaters of the Rock Creek drainage. The headwaters not only feed clean water to Rock Creek, a renowned trout stream, but provide spawning habitat for west slope cutthroat trout and bull trout, species that are far less common than they were when the West was settled. The area burned by the fire is also prime elk habitat. The elk will find lots of green grass and tender sprouts next spring. Aspen, while not common in the burned area, will be rejuvenated by the fire.
Basic Information
| Incident Type | Wildfire |
|---|---|
| Cause | Lightning |
| Date of Origin | Wednesday September 02nd, 2009 approx. 12:00 AM |
| Location | 20 miles southwest of Philipsburg, MT |
| Incident Commander | Jim Harrington |
Current Situation
| Total Personnel | 10 |
|---|---|
| Size | 5,242 acres |
| Fuels Involved | Lodgepole, spruce, and alpine fir. |
| Fire Behavior | Up to 3 to 4 inches of snow on September 29 and 30 dampened fire activity. |
| Significant Events | Firefighters succeeded in keeping the fire away from the private land and 11 cabins in the Frogpond Basin historic mining area, 23 miles southwest of Philipsburg. |
Outlook
| Planned Actions | On Wednesday, the Lolo Hotshots unwrapped private cabins in the Frogpond Basin Area that had been wrapped to protect them from fire. They also rehabilitated short sections of fireline. The Lolo Hotshots left Thursday. The fire will be managed by the Pintler Ranger District. |
|---|---|
| Terrain Difficulty | High (no road access, rough terrain) |
| Remarks | All road and trail closures have been lifted. |
