Woof! The Thompson Fire is now estimated at 11,400 acres, almost 18 square miles. A type II team has been called in.

The Missoulian has a good write-up. Also check out the map below to see the area covered by the blaze . . .

The Thompson fire in southeastern Glacier National Park exploded from 1,900 acres to about 11,400 acres between Monday and Tuesday afternoons, as western Montana recovered from a line of thunderstorms Monday night.

“The lack of moisture, high temperatures, low humidity and dry vegetation have resulted in extreme fire behavior and fire growth,” Glacier spokeswoman Katelyn Liming said in an email Tuesday. “The smoke plume is visible from areas on both the west and east sides of the Continental Divide.”

Given the fire’s remote location, the National Park Service is using a “contain and confine” strategy to manage it, Liming said. Helicopters are using bucket drops to cool its hot spots, while natural rock outcrops are blocking some of the spread.

Read more . . .

The Thompson Fire is now five times as big as it was at the end of the day yesterday. Here is this afternoon’s official press release . . .

The Thompson Fire started on August 9th and continues burning in the remote Nyack area, located in the south-central region of the Glacier National Park. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The lack of moisture, high temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation have resulted in extreme fire behavior and fire growth. The Thompson Fire is now estimated to be 5,500 acres this afternoon. The smoke plume is visible from areas on both the west and east sides of the Continental Divide.

A Type III Interagency Incident Command Team is working with Glacier National Park to respond to the fire. There are currently 35 fire personnel and two helicopters assigned, with additional air resources available. A Type II Incident Management Team has been ordered. The Team is using contain and confine strategy to manage the fire. This is being accomplished by using aerial resources with water bucket drops to cool hotspots. Fire managers are using natural (rocky) barriers to confine the fire. The National Park Service Upper and Lower Nyack Backcountry Patrol Cabins remain threatened by the fire. Containment actions are being taken to protect the lower cabin. These actions include fuel mitigation actions around the site and structure wrap of the cabin.

The safety of public and incident personnel is the highest priority on all incidents. At this time, ground resources cannot be safely used due to the remote, rugged terrain and the lack of safety zones in the area.

The Thompson Fire has prompted closure of the Nyack and Coal Creek areas, including trails and backcountry campsites. There will be additional trail closures in the area due to increased fire activity. For updated information on trail status, visit http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/trailstatusreports.htm.

The Reynolds Creek Fire continues to burn within the fire perimeter on the east side of the park. For information on fires within Glacier National Park, please visit http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/27/.

After a quiet morning, the Thompson Fire blew up spectacularly this afternoon, starting at about 1:00 pm. Bill Fordyce took the following photo sequence from the Scalplock Mountain Lookout that illustrates just how quickly the blaze increased in strength. Check the times in the photo captions. The whole sequence takes only about an hour.

The Thompson Fire blew pretty impressively this afternoon . . .

The Thompson Fire in Glacier National Park blew up Tuesday afternoon, sending up a massive smoke cloud that was visible from the Flathead Valley as well as East Glacier, St. Mary and Many Glacier.

“It looks like a giant cauliflower stalk in the sky,” said John Antonucci, the chef at Stanton Creek Lodge on U.S. 2. “This thing is directly in front of my front door, square in front of my front door.”

A caller to the Inter Lake likened the boiling smoke to a volcano.

Read more . . .

Here’s the latest InciWeb information on the Thompson Fire. It is now 1900 acres in extent; it was around 150-200 acres this morning . . .

Incident Overview

The Thompson Fire was reported at approximately 1:30pm on Sunday August 9. It is burning in rugged terrain in the remote Nyack area of the park.

As of Monday evening, the fire is estimated to be 1,900 acres.

Aerial resources are being used on the Thompson Fire to attempt to control fire spread. Due to the remote, rugged terrain, ground resources are not being used at this time.

The majority of Glacier National park is unaffected by this wildfire. For more specific visitor information , please see official websites (http://www.nps.gov/glac, twitter.com/glaciernps, and flickr.com/photos/glaciernps). Additionally you can view park webcams at http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm.

Basic Information

Current Situation

From the official press release . . .

A new wildland fire was reported on Sunday, August 9 around 1:30pm. The fire was reported from Glacier National Park’s Loneman Lookout. The Thompson fire, burning in the remote Nyack area of the park, is estimated to be 150-200 acres in size. The Upper Nyack Cabin is threatened by the fire.

A smoke plume from the Thompson Fire was visible from areas east of the continental divide yesterday.

Aerial resources are being used on the Thompson Fire to attempt to control fire spread. Due to the remote, rugged terrain, ground resources are not being used at this time to support aerial firefighting efforts.

The Thompson Fire has prompted closure of the Nyack and Coal Creek area, including trails and backcountry campsites and the section of trail from Nyack Creek to Cutbank Pass. For updated information on trail status, visit http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/trailstatusreports.htm

A Type III Interagency Incident Command Team is working with Glacier National Park to respond to the fire, with personnel from the Flathead National Forest, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and National Park Service resources.

Also read . . .

Fire burns in heavy timber in remote part of Glacier (Daily Inter Lake)

New Fire in Remote Part of Glacier National Park Closes Backcountry Sites (Flathead Beacon)