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A Neptune Aviation BAe-146 aerial tanker lays retardant along the Black Mountain fire on Wednesday evening. 

A Chinook helicopter makes a water drop over the Black Mountain fire on Thursday morning.

Smoke from the Black Mountain fire billows into the trees on Thursday morning.

Smoke from the Black Mountain fire on Wednesday, July 20.

Missoula may have gotten lucky this time: Firefighters have so far held the Black Mountain fire west of Missoula to about 20 acres, and there are no evacuation orders in place. 

On Thursday afternoon, the day-old fire was burning within its footprint and being held at bay by ground and aerial resources, according to Shawn Bradshaw, the incident commander. Firefighters worked to lay hose around the perimeter on Thursday afternoon as a bulldozer prepared to crawl up the mountainside and cut lines to contain the blaze. 

"It's not doing much right now," he said around 3:30 p.m. Thursday. "We're trying to keep it in its footprint."

Bradshaw, who works for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, was stationed on Big Flat Road near Martin Gulch and the fire, about to prep the bulldozer to head to the fire. A DNRC Huey helicopter roared overhead at an interval, flying fast and low as it shuttled buckets of water to drop on the fire.

The fire started Wednesday evening above Big Flat Road on Black Mountain, about 5.75 miles southwest of Missoula International Airport. Bradshaw wasn't sure when the fire would be fully extinguished, but said, "We try to hit it hard and get it stopped as quick as possible. I'm glad we caught it when we did."

So were Adam Trina and his wife, Parisa Jaroenrach, who own the 160-acre plot on which the fire is burning. Trina said the couple, previously of Columbia Falls, live in a camper on the property as they prepare to build a home there this year. He was driving home on Mullan Road around 6 p.m. Wednesday when he saw the plume of smoke rising from the mountainside. He immediately called Jaroenrach, who was at the camper. 

Fearing a propane tank explosion or other accident, "my heart dropped for a minute" until she picked up the phone, he said. In consultation with officials, he directed Jaroenrach to drive an ATV out of the property. The vehicle became stuck, but she found an alternate route out with assistance from responding firefighters. 

The couple's camper is unharmed, and they can't see the fire from that section of their land. Trina praised the efforts of responding firefighters, calling it a good expense of tax dollars. Trina said he's not sure what caused the fire; he wasn't home and wasn't aware of anyone being near where the fire started. But, he said, he couldn't imagine a cause other than humans. Other people sometimes travel across an easement through the property.

"Something happened between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock," Trina said. "Who knows yet, but it's human, it has to be."

Just 1.25 miles east of the incident command post, where Kona Ranch Road crosses the Clark Fork River, people swam and fished in sweltering 93-degree weather. The only sign of a wildfire nearby was the occasional tuft of white smoke from the mountainside to the west — and, of course, the thrum of the Vietnam-era helicopter filling buckets of water just downstream. 

The fire "made a little bit of a run yesterday," Bradshaw said, but on Thursday was exhibiting moderate behavior with only occasional single-tree torching and no runs through tree crowns. About 45 personnel were working the blaze at that time, across four DNRC engines, one U.S. Forest Service engine, one USFS hand crew and the bulldozer. Bradshaw said that's changing constantly as resource availability and allocations shift. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The landscape around the fire is a mixture of steep, rocky slopes, dense brush, and open Ponderosa pine forest.

Missoula Rural Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Newman said around midday Thursday that holding the fire to 20 acres was a feat. He credited in part the quick arrival of three air tankers dropping retardant and two helicopters dropping water. 

Firefighters were "assisted with some very good air support with air tankers and also helicopter bucket drops, so that's a best-case scenario," Newman said. "That could've been obviously a lot worse."

It was so far very impressive, he said, "to hold something like that in an area that hasn't burned in a long time, well, it's very thick in there."

Crews from his agency were the first on scene, arriving around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. They were soon joined by firefighters from other local agencies and the DNRC. Initial attack involved three Missoula Rural engines, three DNRC engines and one Missoula city engine. Winds were blowing 20-25 mph when crews arrived.

"Very quickly after arrival we went into joint command with DNRC and also the Missoula County Sheriff's Office because there were evacuation potentials," he said, adding that the fire "was pretty difficult access. There's quite a network of ... roads up there, but some of them are what we call Jeep trails or two-track." 

Missoula Montana: The Black Mountain Fire is growing quickly. There are 2 SEATS, a LAT, a type 1 helicopter, and a type 2 helicopter working the fire. Resources say the fire is spotting in front of its self. 🙏to the Substack subscriber who sent this in. #Missoula #wildfire #mt pic.twitter.com/uDs1InYwzf

DNRC took command of the fire and Missoula Rural crews cleared the fire by midnight.

One house near the fire has been evacuated but "there are no other evacuation orders or warnings that have been issued," according to Missoula County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Jeannette Smith. Smith said that Big Flat Road near the fire was closed to non-residents. 

Sarah Coefield, an air quality specialist with Missoula City-County Health Department, said that the fire likely won't significantly impact Missoula's air quality, but that things would've been much worse had it blown up. 

"If it were a fire that had escaped or ignited on a red-flag day ... then we would've been looking at really significant smoke impact," Coefield said. "That would be a terrible place for air quality for there to be a prolonged smoke event." 

Coefield said that some smoke haze in the area had come from fires in Alaska and Canada, and that she's monitoring fires in British Columbia that could send smoke to Missoula if they grow larger. The Hog Trough and Moose fires to the south were "unlikely to be an issue in Missoula County," she said.

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Joshua Murdock covers the outdoors and natural resources for the Missoulian.

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A Neptune Aviation BAe-146 aerial tanker lays retardant along the Black Mountain fire on Wednesday evening. 

A Chinook helicopter makes a water drop over the Black Mountain fire on Thursday morning.

Smoke from the Black Mountain fire billows into the trees on Thursday morning.

Smoke from the Black Mountain fire on Wednesday, July 20.

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