'This Summer is different'

Firefighters working on the east shore of Flathead Lake thought they had the Boulder 2700 Fire in check as the sun set on Saturday afternoon. The fire started the night before - the cause is unknown but early indications are that it was started by humans - and throughout the day scooper planes hit the blaze with thousands of gallons of water.

Then a warm wind from the north started blowing.

The fire jumped Montana Highway 35 and made a run toward Finley Point, a thin finger of land that curves out into Flathead Lake and is home to a few hundred people. Shortly after midnight on Aug. 1, the Lak...