Missoula On Fire

U.S. Forest Service smoke jumpers and local wild land firefighters, along with Missoula city fire crews, will be digging fire lines through the evening to help contain a mysterious fire that burned a good portion of the face of Mount Sentinel this evening.

Known by most Montanans simply as the "mountain with the 'M' on it", Mount Sentinel is a widely recognized western Montana landmark and place near and dear to the hearts of local hikers, a few dozen who were safely evacuated during the fire without harm.

According to local sources, the fire is likely to be contained quickly, due to greener than normal grass conditions and the lack of timber in the burn zone.

“We're lucky there's not a lot of heavy timber and that the grass is still pretty green,” said Missoula Assistant Fire Chief Mike Painter just before 9 p.m. “I'm cautiously optimistic that we're going to keep the fire on this side of the ridge."

Wow - isn't that alone the argument for responsible forest thinning?

While this is probably not the start of the full-blown fire season, the Scoop does predict that this will ignite the local climate change alarmist movement, which has been smoldering since last September under 30 feet of snow. A protest is probably being planned (or held) right now.

Also a source of great speculation?

The cause of the fire, which is under investigation.

It appears we only know the time and location where it was started, which has been identified by the Missoulian as "just before 7 p.m. at the base of Mount Sentinel behind the University of Montana's married student housing complex."

Adding fuel to our burning theories, our local fire chief referred to the cause as potentially "suspicious in nature". Hope nobody reading this was barbecuing out behind the dorm tonight.

And... just when you think things get too weird...many observers began to question the strange shapes created by the fire, including a large ring in the middle of the mountain that continued to burn long into the evening.

Even though it is still dark outside, the Scoop has been able to map out some burn coordinates and create the following simulated photo, based on eyewitness account of some front-line firefighters and some friends that were watching from the community concert in Bonner Park. It is possible they had a little too much wine.

I guess we'll be able to see for ourselves in the morning.

Just remember where you heard it first.

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P.S. - God bless our firefighters and local responders who were able to keep everybody safe. Let's pray they remain so themselves as they contain this fire.