Firefighters on Saturday were battling a rapidly growing fire about 2 miles northeast of the community of Montana Creek — near Mile 95 of the Parks Highway — as warm, dry conditions in much of the state fueled additional fire activity.
The Montana Creek Fire, which was reported around 3:15 p.m. Saturday, grew quickly from a quarter acre to about 20 acres, Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection officials wrote in an update. By 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the fire was estimated between 70 and 100 acres, KTNA reported, based on information from state fire officials.
Advertisement
At least three wildland fire engines, two helicopters, two scoopers, a fire retardant aircraft and a load of smokejumpers were responding, among other resources, fire officials wrote in their post. Flames up to 5 feet were observed and trees were torched as the blaze burns in an area with black spruce, fire officials wrote.
Crews were making progress Saturday evening, a public information officer told KTNA.
The Parks Highway remained open Saturday evening, but drivers were asked to slow down and use caution in the fire area as crews continued to fight the blaze and work between Mile 94 and 98, fire officials said. Alaska State Troopers said around 5:30 p.m. Saturday that residential roads between Mile 94 and 98 were “only open to residential traffic.”
The Upper Susitna Community & Senior Center said on Facebook that it was open for anyone needing shelter as a result of the Montana Creek Fire.
State fire officials said that burn suspensions continue to remain in effect for the Matanuska-Susitna, Valdez/Copper River, Fairbanks, Delta and Tok areas until conditions improve.
Advertisement
On the Kenai Peninsula, a wildfire near Tustumena Lake in the Kasilof area forced evacuations of the nearby Tustumena Lake Campground, borough officials wrote in a social media post.
Personnel from Central Emergency Services and the state Division of Forestry and Fire Protection were responding to the fire, and more air and ground resources were on the way, Kenai Peninsula Borough officials wrote.
The borough said its Office of Emergency Management has activated a call center at 907-262-4636 for non-emergency calls about the Tustumena fire management operations.
In Interior Alaska, crews are monitoring and responding to multiple wildfires, including some that have been burning for several days.
Additional information about wildfire response in Alaska is available at akfireinfo.com.
Matt Rains recently announced his campaign for Montana’s First Congressional District seat. Rains, a Democrat, is a fourth-generation Montana rancher, U.S. Army Veteran, and former Chief of Staff for the Montana Farmers Union.
“I am running for Congress because Montanans deserve better,” said Rains. “Like my neighbors and friends, I see and feel the cost of everything going up in Montana – and Ryan Zinke is making it worse by voting to support the tariffs and cutting Medicaid to drive up our health care costs.
“When I see a problem, I run towards it to find a solution: when our country was at…
After the state intervened to trap about 100 swine demonstrating feral behaviors, Montana food banks are slated to receive an influx of pork this week.
Late last month, Wildlife Services, a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s umbrella, tipped off the Montana Department of Livestock that it might have a feral swine population on its hands.
Wildlife Services, which intervenes when landowners report conflicts with wildlife, had been called to Phillips County in north-central Montana to investigate a potential bear conflict. The agency didn’t find evidence of bear activity, but it did find hoof prints, pig scat and other signs consistent with swine presence. The day after Wildlife Services visited the site near Malta along the Hi-Line, the state started looking into the matter and learned that approximately 100 pigs were running uncontained and “beginning to demonstrate behaviors and characteristics consistent with feral swine populations,” according to a press release.
The Montana Legislature passed a law in 2015 prohibiting the importation, transportation or possession of feral swine. Intentionally, knowingly or negligently allowing swine to live in a “feral state” is also illegal. By passing the law, policymakers sought to ward off issues states and provinces have reported with feral swine, which can damage crops and wetlands, prey on wildlife and spread a form of brucellosis that can be transmitted to humans.
Advertisement
Neighboring areas, most notably Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, have grappled with feral swine populations for years, and wildlife managers there and in the U.S. consider them to be an invasive species.
Montana State Veterinarian Tahnee Szymanski told Montana Free Press that feral swine can become established in three ways: they can migrate into Montana from an area with an established population, they can be introduced — illegally — by hunters eager to pursue them for sport, or they can develop when domestic animals are freed from the “normal checks and balances” associated with livestock production.
“Domestic swine, left to their own devices for a couple of generations, actually revert back to feral behavior very quickly,” Szymanski said. “This is a really good reminder that a potential feral swine population could crop up anywhere in the state.”
The state livestock department receives about six reports per year of potential feral swine sightings. All of them have turned out to be “owned domestic swine running at large,” according to an agency press release.
In this particular case, there were some unique circumstances related to a death in the family that owned the swine, Szymanski said.
Advertisement
“This situation just kind of got out of control,” she said. “It has been allowed to maybe fester a little bit longer than a traditional circumstance we would encounter.”
An image encouraging Montana citizens to help minimize the amount of feral swine. Credit: Courtesy of Montana Department of Livestock
Syzmanski said trapping operations began earlier this month, and all parties involved are pleased the meat will be distributed at food banks around the state.
On Oct. 18, the first swine shipment arrived at Producer Partnership, a nonprofit animal processing facility that works with agricultural producers to turn donated livestock into food for schools and other nonprofits. Trapping operations are ongoing with another 30-45 animals yet to be collected, Szymanski told MTFP on Oct. 22.
Producer Partnership is the country’s only nonprofit meat processing facility inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A product of the COVID-19 pandemic, Producer Partnership is located between Big Timber and Livingston and employs about 10 people.
Producer Partnership president and founder Matt Pierson estimates that the Montana Food Bank Network will receive between 8,000 and 14,000 pounds of pork from the swine. He said he’s unaware of any other organizations set up to take on these kinds of “oddball projects.”
Advertisement
“Our hope through this partnership is that people realize there’s a more amicable, better way to solve these issues without just going in and shooting everything,” he said. “It helps solve a problem for the state, and it helps put all that meat into the food bank.”
LATEST STORIES
Thousands of pounds of pork bound for Montana food banks following feral swine investigation
In late September, Wildlife Services alerted the Montana Department of Livestock to a potential feral swine issue involving about 100 animals in Phillips County, and the state began trapping the animals and delivered them to a nonprofit meat-processing facility shortly thereafter. The animals are now expected to provide a bounty of pork for food banks around the state. Matt Pierson, president and founder of Producer Partnership, said the arrangement will allow for a “better resolution” for all involved.
New law requires election officials to reject mail ballots that aren’t signed with voters’ birth years
Montana voters are having their first encounter with a new requirement to provide their birth year on the back of mail-in ballot envelopes alongside the previously required signature line. The change is a result of a legislative mandate aimed at enhancing mail election security. Election officials in Montana’s two largest counties, Yellowstone and Missoula, said the change had already forced them to reject hundreds of ballots in early returns.
Born from tragedy, Great Falls nonprofit Toby’s House provides free child care for families in need
Cascade County child care centers meet just 71% of the area demand, and a 2021 study described a “severe shortage” of child care capacity in Great Falls with an estimated 580 children in need of child care that wasn’t available. In that landscape, Toby’s House offers free, drop-in care that specializes in crisis intervention.
We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which
enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time.
For any issues, contact news@kulr8.com or call (406) 656-8000.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/S647Y7PWO5A3HPSYI7D3CMQZRE.jpg "Crews battle Montana Creek Fire along Parks Highway south of Talkeetna")
