Gov. Greg Gianforte prepares to lift off from the Seeley Lake Airport on Aug. 2. Gianforte took a helicopter ride over the Colt Fire to assess the situation.
Fire operations section chief Justin Kaber and Northern Rockies Team one Commander Brent Olson brief Gov. Greg Gianforte on the Colt Fire.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte visited firefighters and got a bird's eye view of the Colt Fire on Aug. 2.
Gianforte landed at the Seeley Lake Airport on Wednesday afternoon, and quickly changed into a jumpsuit to fly off towards the Colt Fire. The Colt Fire is roughly 6,800 acres with 19% containment. Gianforte said the Colt Fire was the number one priority in Montana.
While there was good news to report - evacuations for local residents have been lifted - fire managers and Gianforte said there is still work to be done. The blaze is still growing along the western flank of the fire, and it could start burning in remote timber.
"Prior forest management has been a tremendous aid to people fighting on the ground," Gianforte said in an interview with the Pathfinder. "But adjacent to the area are massive forests that haven't been thinned."
Gianforte looked over a large map of the Colt Fire taped onto a bulletin board on the edge of the airport. Brent Olson, incident commander for the Colt Fire, pointed to spots on the map where heavy equipment and hand crews have made direct fire lines.
"Hats off to the men and women who fight fire," Gianforte said, adding that his office helped increase state firefighter pay in 2021.
Gianforte said fire crews need to attack flames with a twofold approach: aggressively attack all fires - with safety as the priority, and to prioritize forest management. Gianforte applauded efforts made by the forest service to manage the forests around Seeley Lake.
One prescribed burn in particular, the Colt Summit in 2016, burned the eastern area of the Colt Fire, which is now the largest contained area of the burn. Other treatments have been done on the northern side of the fire in the Swan Lake Ranger District, but some of those have been held up in court.
Gianforte left Seeley after one hour of talking with fire managers, news organizations and the helicopter ride. His staff said he would be headed to the Big Hole Valley for a discussion on river health.
Reader Comments(0)