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Pictures taken the day after the massive blowout into Elk Creek.
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1988 Canyon Creek Fire
(RMRD Division near Scapegoat Wilderness) Elk Creek Blowout Augusta, Montana |
Had I known the significance of this blowout I would have done a better job documenting it on film.
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| Here are a few pictures I took while working on a hand line on a ridge above Elk Creek. I believe the ridge that we were standing on was the south flank ridge that leads up to Steamboat Mt.
This was about mid morning. |
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| These pictures were taken the day after the massive firestorm blowout. The Canyon Creek fire jumped the Dearborn River in the Scapegoat Wilderness and moved out into and through Elk Creek and surrounding drainages.
Around 2:00 pm. |
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| The blowout continued on out towards the flat lands burning National Forest, State lands and acres of private land. Haystack Butte was burned from base to top and the fire threatened the ranching town of Augusta.
This picture was about 3:00pm. |
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| Again, these pictures were taken a day after this hugh blowout. In this picture you can see the hugh scale of the devistation. The only green left here is on the hillside you see in the foreground. Haystack Butte is to the right of the small smoke colume. |
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| Beyond the green hillside the whole area is black. This area and more (not pictured) all burned within the course of about 18 hours. Rumors suggest the firestorm was aided by the unusual event of the jet stream touching the surface of the earth. |
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