State firefighters are battling fast-growing wildfires all over the Glacier National Park that have been forcing tourists and residents to evacuate. Driven by winds, the wildfires have been sweeping through the National Park and have already led to the evacuation of St. Mary, a small community near the St. Mary Lake.
In the meantime, blazes are also sweeping through Napa Valley, where emergency responders attempted to limit the fast-moving flames. The blaze had engulfed thousands of acres in a matter of hours, burning down buildings and damaging homes.
In the Napa Valley, authorities have issued warnings for 200 structures as the blaze has exceeded 6,000 acres. It is only 5 percent contained. Tourists camping in the Glacier National Park were also cleared on Wednesday in order to allow fire officials to use the area as a staging ground. Despite their efforts, the blaze burned through over 6 sq. miles and destroyed the historic Baring Creek Cabin.
At the time, authorities have proceeded to evacuating two additional campgrounds as well as the Rising Sun Motor Inn
Firefighters are having a particularly difficult time because of the extremely dry vegetation as well as the prolonged droughts in the area.
As the blaze continued moving towards the Going-to-the-Sun Road, authorities decided to shut down 21 of the total 50 mile-long road. Tourists had to leave their vehicles parked along the road and be transported by officials out of the danger-zone.
On Wednesday, park officials attempted to help tourists retrieve the cars they had left across the road. In the meantime, rangers kept scouring the backcountry in search of hikers who could have been surprized by the blaze.
Current conditions, firefighters explain, could help the blaze expand exponentially.
“In some locations, it’s burning on the shore, in other locations it’s two-thirds up the mountain,” Glacier County Honey Co. owner said.
Photo credits: Daily Mail
Leave a Reply