SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2007
Montana gets hit again - this time with fast roving fires.
Montana gets hit again - this time with fast roving fires.
As soon as we just got through the last disaster, our state moved on the become the Number 1 in major fires this weekend.
So far, your PI Union Office in Bigfork, Montana, is safe. But surrounding communities are feeling the pressure of mandatory evacuation, smoke filled skies, and raining ash!
Your prayers and thoughts will be appreciated by the one million residents in Montana and nearby states.
Montana Governor flies to Seeley Lake fire as area residents are evacuated
People living in the areas around Seeley Lake and Placid Lake were told Saturday afternoon to evacuate their homes because of a fire raging three miles west of Seeley Lake, fueled by winds of 25 miles per hour and racing toward Seeley Lake.
“At this time, honestly, for the next five hours, it’s in the hands of God,” Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in a telephone interview from the scene. Schweitzer canceled his sched-uled speech Saturday night at the Montana Democratic Party’s officers’ convention in Helena to remain on the scene. He received a call mid-day at the convention and left to ride a state helicopter to Seeley Lake with state Forester Bob Harrington.
People fled the area in cars piled high with vacation gear and towing boats and camp-ers. Southbound traffic on Route 83 backed up 30 deep at Clearwater Junction. On their way out of the area, they passed people water-skiing on Salmon Lake, as an ominous plume of grey- and rose-colored smoke rose in the sky.
The governor said residents in the area were being told to shut their propane tanks, shut off their electricity, open their gates to possibly save their livestock, and to grab their pets and head to Clearwater Junction, where emergency shelters were being set up by the Red Cross and other organizations.
Firefighting crews were pulled off the fire as it headed toward the resort town of Seeley Lake.
“You can’t put good crews in front of fire,” Schweitzer said.
Even before the evacuation order was given, Kirby said that some people in area campgrounds had hitched up their trailers in preparation for leaving, while others simply drove home, said Jamie Kirby, fire prevention specialist for the state Department of Natu-ral Resources and Environmental Control
“That’s a big help to us,” Kirby said.
The evacuation order affects several dozen homes in the Placid Lake area, about half of them seasonal, she said.
Mark Williams of Lake Country Builders has constructed a good many of the homes affected by the evacuation order west of Boy Scout Road. Three generations of his family were in the midst of a two-week-long at his own cabin east of Boy Scout Road on the banks of Seeley Lake.
Originally, Williams was told to evacuate, but the order was lifted in favor of the evacuation of just those residents to the west.
“It’s a little bit of Chicken Little going on right now,” said Williams. “I don’t think the places down as low as the lake are in danger - the fire has a long way to go and lot of open space in between before it reaches this point,” he said.
Shortly after the evacuation order for east of Boy Scout Road was lifted, Williams said a breeze came up and lifted the smoke. “We saw the column of smoke - it’s pretty good-sized but it’s west of here, definitely,” said Williams.
JULY 19TH:
PI UNION OFFICE - Knocked out by Montana Tornado Storm - will reopen Friday!
PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS UNION OFFICE CLOSED
Severe Tornado & Lightening Storm shuts down Western Montana
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A severe tornado and lightening storm paralyzed parts of Western Montana Wednesday evening with loss of power, office phones, cell phones, and internet. Full restoration of all utilities is not expected until late Thursday evening.
The USA office for the International Private Investigators Union in Bigfork, Montana was among several businesses affected by the huge storm. A spokesman for the union stated the office is expected to reopen on Friday.
It is extremely rare for Western Montana to suffer the loss of all three vital utilities at the same time, including the loss of cellular phone service.