Tribes respond to Pablo fire
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RONAN — Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire and Ronan Volunteer Fire Department were on the scene of a fire in a wooded and residential area Thursday afternoon.
Planes dropped retardant on the blaze in Pablo off Kennedy Drive that was reported around 2:30 p.m.
A visible plume of smoke initially rose over the neighborhood, but planes knocked it down quickly.
"The air attack did a super job at spotting and suppressing it," resident Dave Bartholome said of the response.
Barbara Rush had placed sprinklers on her lawn after the fire started, just in case it came closer to homes, but Rush said she wasn't immediately planning on packing up in case of evacuation like some of her neighbors.
Rush notified some of her next door neighbors to the blaze, because they didn't notice the fire trucks or planes.
"They had no idea," she said.
Ronan Fire Chief Mark Clary said that an ambulance had been called because one responder was short of breath.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Fire Prevention Specialist C.T. Camel said a crew of 10 was at the scene of the fire on Friday, mopping up the quarter-acre fire that was started by lightning. Camel said it was the only fire his division responded to during the day, but that teams were being vigilant because of high fire danger.
Fire danger on the Flathead Reservation is at extreme levels
