That unsafe fire weather extended to Washington state, which is also struggling with drought.
Advertisement
Baring Creek Cabin, a historic structure, was destroyed and 21 miles of the Going To The Sun Road have been shut.
In Montana, a management team that responds only to the nation’s highest-priority fire took command Thursday night, two days after the wildfire ignited.
The fire has now spread beyond the Rising Sun Motor Inn and campground, which were previously evacuated.
Officials moved quickly to get hundreds of people away from a fast-moving, 2,000-acre wildfire at Montana’s Glacier National Park as the blaze grew Wednesday. Although part of the east-central portion of the park is now closed to public access, the majority of the park is still open, including Many Glacier, Two Medicine, West Glacier, the west side of the Going-to-the-sun highway, routes along the southern perimeter of the park, as well as numerous trails.
St. Mary Glacier Park KOA owner Susan Brooke said she sent her staff to safety, but she and her family are staying. “We don’t really want to go when it’s still out there, but it’s kind of easier for us to change our plans considering we didn’t make any reservations”.
But the main tourist season, measured from the June 19 opening of the scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road until its planned closure September 20, is a brief 13 weeks. Almost 700,000 people visited the park in July last year, and about 95 percent of them traveled some length of the roadway.
To the west, a fast-moving wildfire covered more than 9 square miles of countryside near Northern California’s Lake Berryessa by Thursday morning.
“The threat has diminished pretty substantially in a lot of areas”, Head said.
More than 500 firefighters have been battling the blaze, which is tearing through rugged terrain around 45 minutes from the popular wine country. Park officials were helping tourists retrieve their cars Wednesday while rangers searched the backcountry for any remaining hikers after the blaze doubled in size overnight to more than 3 square miles. PHOTOS: Large fire burns south of Lake Berryessa Evacuations have been lifted in the Golden Bear Estates Area and for residents on County Road 87.
“I think what we’re offering visitors is a completely different experience throughout the park”, Germann told The Associated Press on Friday.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Ron Cadrette, general manager of Glacier Park Inc., which operates hotels in and around Glacier, said cancellations have come at the company’s St. Mary Lodge and Resort, an upscale 115-room hotel. It was burning on both sides of the American River and U.S. Highway 50, which was closed about 60 miles east of Sacramento Officials say the cause of this fire is under investigation.
Advertisement
No expectations have been made on when the Glaciers National Park fire will be contained.
