Thursday, December 5, 2024

Trains Helping Fight the Sheep Fire in Glacier

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With thick smoke impeding visibility and foiling aircraft operations over the past couple of days, BNSF Railway trains have been shuttling fire crews and heavy equipment into the Sheep Fire at the southern edge of Glacier National Park.

There firefighters have been working to build containment lines during a lull in fire activity.

Fire management team spokesman Greg Dinetto said Wednesday that three feller bunchers and a skidder have been railed in to help created a shaded fuel break downwind of the fire.

It is still burning about a half mile from U.S. 2 and a mile south of the community of Essex.

Each train can deliver three 20-person crews to the fire line, and Dinetto said about 70 firefighters were working throughout the day. Once cut, logs are shuttled out of the area by train and stored for the Forest Service to dispose of.

Dinetto said that as of Wednesday afternoon, no helicopters had been able to fly. The aircraft have been mostly grounded over the past several days as temperature inversions have held smoke from fires farther west along the ground until well into the afternoon.

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Source:  The Daily Inter Lake

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