Lolo Peak Fire Hit With Snow, Total Cost Nearing $48 Million
The Lolo Peak Fire is still burning, but now it has to fight to breathe under a blanket of snow. According to Fire Information Officer Jennifer Costich the snowfall on Monday did a lot to help.
"The upper elevations of Lolo Peak did receive some snow on Monday, I think more than our forecast," Costich said. "Clearly that has an impact on fire behavior. It doesn't put out the fire right away, certainly, but it does reduce fire activity to creeping, smoldering.... burning in heavy fuels."
Costich is part of a type two incident management team which took over the fire on Monday night, she says a lot of the effort now is on mop up and repair.
"They will be doing whatever mop up they can, particularly in Larry Creek drainage, the big story is definitely suppression repair, so that means things like dozer lines and fire lines that were constructed where the fire is contained in those areas, those lines are actually being rehabilitated," Costich said.
The fire perimeter hasn't budged much since the snowfall and is sitting at 53,800 acres. Lolo Peak will likely end the season as the most expensive blaze in Montana history, so far the cost to fight the fire is up to $47.8 million.