Locals take over East Fork Fire

Local firefighting groups in the counties and reservation on which embers of the East Fork Fire still smolder took control at 8 this morning of the 22,000-acre fire.

The fire was 100 percent contained by Saturday, 21 days after its Aug. 27 outbreak, significantly downgrading its urgency and eliminating the need for outside help and resources, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Incident Commander Don Pyrah said Monday morning.

The Hill County Sheriff's Office posted a notice on its Facebook Page Monday saying all roads that were closed due to the fire are opened and county officials have opened Beaver Creek Park to all recreation including camping and 24-hour access to cabins.

Pyrah said management details will be up to the officials in Blaine and Hill counties and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation to work out.

Pyrah spoke at a meeting Monday in the Timmons Room of the Hill County Courthouse held before the federal and state personnel left.

Officials from the counties and reservation who had been involved with the fire one way or another were at the meeting in addition to Pyrah and other DNRC officials.

Pyrah said that while the fire has little chance of escaping containment lines - last week's rain helped depreciate those chances further - there will still be potential to see interior smoke into the fall, Pyrah said.

In the "lessons learned" portion of the meeting, Pyrah talked about the incident command team's lack of resources - people, equipment and communication technology -  and its resulting dependence on its most valuable asset, local volunteers.

"The willingness of all stakeholders to work together was remarkable, but lacking some critical staff resulted in inadequate communications prior to the type 1 team's involvement," Pyrah said.

Accurate available information had been as much a problem as communication among those on the battle lines, Pyrah said. The order for a public information officer had been put in from the blaze's onset, a request that was not filled until the type 1 incident team's arrival Sept. 2.

As the type 3 team tncident commander, Pyrah said, he spoke with agency administrators and media personnel only. Many of the "lingering difficulties," he added, may have been prevented if there had been an information officer. By contrast, Pyrah said, the July Fire in the Little Rocky Mountains had five information officers.

"It's tough to communicate information to the public when you don't have a PIO," he said.

The lack of such an officer was a reflection of the bigger picture that every aspect of the firefighting effort lacked something, Pyrah said, adding that radio communications was another such area.

Lack of common frequency usage, inability to field program or clone Motorolas, multi-jurisdictional communication channels and complexity of terrain created communication problems, Pyrah said. Triangle's cell tower on wheels was invaluable at solving the communications issues, he added.

This year was such a prodigious fire season - "this year will go down in history," Pyrah had said Friday - that even resources that were supposed to be available were at best delayed.

Chippewa Cree Office of Forestry Fire Manager Theron Oats, who was in charge of coordinating the initial attack Aug. 27, said some Rocky Boy firefighters - a 20-man crew - were helping fight the Liberty Fire in Seely Lake when the East Fork Fire broke out. Also, one of their engines was on Fort Peck helping with a fire there, Oats added. At some point, those resources returned to help with the East Fork Fire.

"The nation's firefighting resources were stretched beyond thin," Pyrah said, adding that orders for help were going out for all fires.

To make matters worse, the two days during which the fire exploded from 1,000 to 12,000 acres in 18 hours - Aug. 30 and 31 - happened to be the same time period during which all the large fires in Montana exploded because of similar gusty wind conditions.

Two known injuries occurred during the fire, "none of which, surprisingly, happened in the first days of the fire," Pyrah said.

A rancher driving a four-wheeler tipped over and broke an ankle and fibula. He needed surgery, Pyrah said. Someone else was hit with a splinter in the eye.

Pyrah said there were also some close calls.

A bulldozer operator and two people on four-wheelers were cut off by the fire while trying to construct indirect lines. They had no communications.

"The operator dozed a safety line and aerial resources worked the area to decrease fire intensity," Pyrah said.

Pyrah said he heard about a second close call, and, he assumed, there were probably others he had not heard about.

Operational control of all resources was difficult, he said. A lot of people were out there, doing their own thing, with no cohesive coordination.

"Freelancing was widespread," he said.

Echoing the information given by Great Basin Type 1 Incident Management Team Operations Branch Director Cody Peel Sept. 5, Pyrah said it wasn't until the type 1 team took over that "command and control at the tactical level" was achieved. Orders for middle management had gone unfulfilled throughout the lifespan of the fire.

Pyrah discussed other odds and ends.

Pallets of water and some Gatorade that was left at Camp Kiwanis on Beaver Creek Park is available to those who wanted it. Pyrah suggested calling local schools to check if they would like them. Some fencing materials that were requested were now available to landowners who incurred damage.

Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar sought a bid to replace the water bar structures that were destroyed in Mooney Coulee. Materials and labor through the vendor came to the estimate of $5,000. Edgar will consult with county officials about getting payment for those repairs, Pyrah said.

Other details include that Triangle Communications was scheduled to remove the phone lines and three Cells on Wheels Monday. The porta potties and hand-wash stations were picked up Sunday.

Theron Oats said more firefighters are needed in the area. Rocky Boy needs more trained firefighters, he said.

"We need to get out there and recruit," Oats said. "We need firefighters to buy into the program."

Pyrah said after the meeting that the need for firefighters is state-and nationwide, as numbers have become static. Volunteer, paid - all kinds of firefighters are needed, he said.

Oats said during the meeting that he would like to meet and talk about ways to create more cohesion between Rocky Boy and firefighting operations in Blaine and Hill counties, with the goal to create a lasting relationship that would mend a more prepared firefighting team next time a fire hits the area.

Everyone agreed it's important to learn from this for future fires because there will be more fires in Montana, Pyrah said.

Pyrah said he wouldd like to hold a formal lessons-learned with the fire departments of Blaine and Hill counties and  those on Rocky Boy.

"We will have a chance to learn, share and figure out how to do this better next time," Pyrah said. "Some remarkable people stepped up to some big challenges and made an incredible difference. ... I am humbled by the efforts of so many."

Hill County Sheriff Jamie Ross said 600 man hours were put in by deputies just in his department. Deputies worked roadblocks, coordinated evacuations and ensured they went smoothly, as well as check Beaver Creek Park cabins daily to ensure they aren't broken into. In addition to his office, Ross said, Montana Highway Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol, Rocky Boy Police, Rocky Boy Fish and Game, Havre Police Department, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Blaine County Sheriff's Office and Chouteau County Sheriff's  Office all provided help. The interagency coordination was typical, as law enforcement in the region work together often, Ross said.

Bob Sivertsen said Monday he was trying to coordinate a meeting with DNRC with all of the session people involved in the fire.

Sivertsen, who held a meeting last Thursday with local ranchers that DNRC was unable to attend, sent out a release after Monday's meeting announcing he is holding a meeting with Rocky Boy and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officials.

"The major issues have to do with DNRC," he said in the release. "We have had discussions, in fairness I want them to be at the table. The DNRC has promised to set a meeting date as soon as possible, however we won't wait too long as we want to bring closure."