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missoulian.com
WEDNESDAY, August 21, 2013
Copyright 2013 $1
LOLO CREEK
WILDFIRE BRINGS FURY
KURT WILSON/Missoulian
As the sun sets Tuesday evening, the combined West Fork II and Schoolhouse fires in the Lolo Creek drainage send up a giant plume of smoke as the complex gains strength and makes what one fire official called “a rather spectacular run” down to U.S. Highway 12 near Mill Creek, forcing more evacuations, and into the top of Westerman Creek toward Sleeman Creek.
Immediate evacuations ordered Few evacuees using as 8,000-acre firestorm rages shelter, fairgrounds By ALICE MILLER of the Missoulian
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
Four little piggies seemed happy with their temporary home at the Missoula County Fairgrounds on Tuesday after being displaced by the Lolo Creek Complex fires. “Hey you guys,” Betsy Purcell said, peering over the stall doors at Porky, Mac, Twister and Red, who were busy tossing their bedding and snorting. The pigs seemed indifferent to being off-loaded from a trailer and put in new stalls, but seeing flames from her home Monday as she evacuated was frightening. “It’s scary, you know, obviously, it’s the fear of the unknown,” Purcell said. She’s staying with friends in Stevensville while the fire continues to burn about three miles from her home. Her five horses are being put up at an area
LOLO - Tuesday was supposed to be a breather on the Lolo Creek Complex fires after the 5,000-acre rampage on Monday afternoon. And it was until about 6 p.m., just as a public meeting on fire progress was wrapping up at Lolo Elementary School. That’s when seven Missoula County sheriff’s patrol cars went roaring west on U.S. Highway 12, heading into the newly muscular plume of smoke. “The fire has come down to the highway and is pushing across toward Sleeman Gulch,” Missoula County Sheriff Carl Ibsen said at 6:50 See FIRE, Page A9 KURT WILSON/Missoulian
■ More wildfire coverage. Pages A8, A12
A line of evacuees exiting the Lolo Creek drainage comes through the road closure at the intersection of Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 93 on Tuesday evening. Highway 12 is closed until further notice.
See EVACUEES, Page A12
RICK’S AUTO BODY Adams Center warns fans of online resale ticket vendors Worker dies; OSHA to probe explosion
Ahead of Zac Brown Band sale, officials say authenticity difficult to verify, prices inflated By JENNA CEDERBERG of the Missoulian
Tickets for the upcoming Zac Brown Band concert at the Adams Center in Missoula don’t officially go on sale until Friday. Yet 16 were listed for sale for
as much as $300 each Tuesday on the online ticket resale site stubhub.com. More were available at ticketnetwork.com, where prices were listed from $123 to $141 each. See TICKETS, Page A4
By KATHRYN HAAKE of the Missoulian
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Missoula Fire Department are investigating Monday’s explosion at Rick’s Auto Body, which killed a man working in the paint shop. Bruce Hall, 44, died early Tuesday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from burns
suffered when static electricity caused lacquer fumes to ignite in an enclosed area in the back of the shop. Hall was pouring the lacquer from a barrel to a smaller container through a funnel when the fumes exploded, Missoula Fire Marshal Gordy Hughes said. Hall’s family said that he suffered third-degree burns over 95 percent of his body. Rick Booth, who owns Rick’s
Auto Body, said the entire shop is devastated by the death of a co-worker. Hall, who lived in Missoula, had worked at the shop for five years in the detail department and provided customers with rides when their vehicles were in the shop, Booth said. Customers were very fond of Hall, whom Booth described as a See EXPLOSION, Page A4
$20 GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR ONLY $10 TODAY’S FORECAST Sunny High 88º Low 54º Page D6
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Invasive species: Gov. Bullock visits aquatic check station in Ronan. Page B1
Alleged forgery: Ex-president of Horsemen’s Council charged. Page B1
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