Illegal campfire burns five acres on Wild Horse Island State Park
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WILD HORSE ISLAND — A twenty-man fire crew is mopping up the Wild Horse Island fire today, according to Devlin LaFrombois, fire investigator and fire prevention officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Division of Fire.
The fire started Wednesday, July 22, at about 4 p.m. on the west side of the island.
Cause of the fire was an illegal campfire.
“It’s illegal to have a campfire on Wild Horse Island year around,” LaFrombois said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office boat ferried fire fighters to the island, assisted by the Lake County Search and Rescue and the CSKT Fish and Game and their boats. Air support came in the form of two planes dumping fire retardant on the flames and across the top of the slope. A State of Montana Type II helicopter with a Bambi bucket, a large lightweight container hooked to the bottom of the helicopter, continuously dropped columns of water on the blaze and then refilled in Flathead Lake.
The first two main concerns were hikers, since there’s a network of hiking trails crisscrossing the island, and cabins, LaFrombois said. One cabin was approximately 250 to 300 yards south of the fire. No lives were lost, and the cabin is secure.
