Glacier Park fire 30 percent contained

Rain on the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park could help the firefighting near St. Mary, but heavy downpours could create problems for firefighters.

Steady rain was falling Monday afternoon on the fire that has covered 3,327 acres north of St. Mary Lake on the east side of Glacier. The fire started July 21.

"The slopes are steep and when the rain hits those hillsides that have lost their vegetative cover, if you're down to mineral soil and you get a lot of rain, those soils that are overheated become hydrophobic," said Mike Cole, an information officer for the firefighting team assigned to the fire. "We call them debris flows - mud coming down and often carrying trees with it."

That could also affect how soon portions of Going-to-the-Sun Road reopen to visitors. Currently, the road is closed between St. Mary and Big Bend.

Cole said any road openings depend on the weather and the success of firefighting efforts, but park and fire management officials could potentially open the west side of the road to Logan Pass later this week. The Logan Pass Visitor Center won't open until Sun Road is fully open because the center is serviced from the east side.

"The park is trying to get the (St. Mary) Campground and the (Logan Pass) Visitor Center open as soon as possible, but it's a day-to-day situation," Cole said. "They're shooting for midweek."

As of late Monday afternoon, he hadn't received any reports of debris flows, but rain was starting to increase over the fire. Still, Cole said it was slow to filter through the dense canopies of the trees down to where the fire is still active on the ground.

The firefighting effort involves 570 personnel.

The fire is 30 percent contained and Cole was optimistic that the cool, wet day would provide ground crews and helicopters an opportunity to make progress on containment.

Firefighters also have been putting out several spot fires in Two Dog Flats on the east end of the fire. Many of those have arisen from "roman candling" of subalpine fir and spruce trees.

"Those two species in particular have branches all the way to the ground," Cole said. "You'll have fire start out down at the ground, and it will heat up those branches and shoot up out of the tree ... They'll shoot out embers in 360 degrees around them, and can start (new spot fires) when they land."