1987-09-15 Char-Koosta News

              Ronan Fire Control dispatches 200-plus to western blazes
Unless you've been roughing it all summer in the Mission Wilderness, you know that three of five states west of the Reservation are on fire and have been for a few weeks now.
The story's of local interest because some 220-plus firefighters based in Ronan have been on the scene there since late August, fighting blazes that have blackened more than 600,000 acres. Estimates are that it will take some areas a century to recover from
the largely lightning-caused devastation.
Rumor has it that the traveling fire crews may be gone until November. Fire Dispatcher Homer Courville said Sept. 9 that he couldn' t totally discount that estimation.
4Things are still desperate down there in California and Oregon, where 11 of our crews are," he said, "so it's anybody's guess when they might be back." If California's dry, hot "Santa Ana" winds show up on schedule this month, the many fires there could take off again, he said, lengthening the Ronan crews' stay.
With 11 crews out, is the Reservation in danger of being short-handed
should a summer storm start any action here? Not really, Courville said. They've purposely not sent out two trained crews from the Kicking Horse Job Corps Center so they'd be available in case of emergency, he noted. In addition, there are about a dozen seasonal Fire Control workers still at the Ronan base, along with a number of permanent staffers.
So far this year, about 30 fires have been handled within Reservation boundaries. With continued dry weather in store, the fire-condition status locally has been upgraded from "moderate" to "high". If conditions get worse, use-of-the-outdoors restric-(Concludes on page four)
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Are you ready for Native American Day?
It's customary for the governor of Montana to declare the last Friday of September as "Native American Day".
In past years, several Reservation schools have scheduled special activities for that day — sometimes for the whole week beforehand.
Now, the Tribal newsletter isn't always successful in advertising the different schools' "doings", but it's not for lack of trying. Each year about this time, we have the same
phone conversion from Arlee to Evaro:
"Hi, this is Char-Koosta News calling to ask about your school's Native American Day schedule. Do you have anything planned, like a dance demonstration, speakers, chili and frybread?" — those last three words said in a hopeful tone of voice.
The answer usually goes, "Oh, gee, it is about that time, isn't it?