Campus Alert Archive
SKC

Toxic Black Smoke from a Tire-Recycling Fire Forced Salish Kootenai College to Close at 1 P.M. on the Flathead Reservation

MThazmatemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On June 18, 2025, Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana closed its campus at 1 p.m. MDT because of toxic black smoke from a tire-recycling fire that sent plumes over the Mission and Flathead valleys on the Flathead Indian Reservation. While Lake County's Department of Emergency Management did not order evacuations, SKC determined that the air quality risk justified an early closure. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire and Lake County Fire responded to the recycling-facility fire.

Alerts
1
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Salish Kootenai College
Tribal College · MT
~800 studentsRaveSKC Rave Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction274 chars
SKC ALERT: Due to toxic smoke from a tire fire in the Mission Valley, Salish Kootenai College is closing campus at 1:00 p.m. today. All classes and activities are canceled. Students, faculty, and staff should leave campus and limit time outdoors due to air quality concerns.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

SKC's Rave Alert system was used to notify students and faculty of the early closure decision
The closure decision came independently of any Lake County evacuation order — SKC made an institutional risk-management call based on air quality
The Mission Valley sits between the Mission and Flathead mountain ranges; smoke from the tire fire was visible across the Flathead Reservation
Context

Background

Salish Kootenai College is a tribal land-grant community college in Pablo, Montana, on the Flathead Indian Reservation — home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The college serves approximately 800 students and is one of the principal higher-education institutions for the CSKT. On June 18, 2025, a tire-recycling facility fire in the Mission Valley sent plumes of toxic black smoke across the valley. According to Steve Stanley, director of Lake County's Department of Emergency Management, no evacuations were ordered, but smoke earlier in the day had been worse than what was visible by mid-afternoon. SKC made an independent decision to close campus at 1 p.m. MDT, citing air quality concerns. The CSKT Division of Fire and Lake County Fire responded to the recycling-facility fire. The case is significant because it documents an environmental-hazard emergency response at a tribal college using its Rave Alert system — and because tribal colleges, like community colleges, often face the implications of off-campus industrial incidents in their immediate service areas. Compared to wildfire-smoke closures that have become routine in the western United States, the toxic-byproduct profile of a tire fire (carbon monoxide, particulate matter, sulfur compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) presents distinct health risks that justified institutional caution beyond the official county threshold for evacuations.
Analysis

Key Findings

SKC made an independent institutional decision to close campus, going beyond Lake County's emergency management threshold (no evacuation was ordered)
Tire-recycling fires produce toxic combustion products distinct from wildfire smoke, justifying caution even at lower visible smoke levels
The CSKT Division of Fire responded jointly with Lake County Fire — illustrating the cooperative tribal-county emergency response common on Western reservations
Tribal colleges face the same off-campus industrial-hazard exposure as community colleges, with the added complexity of jurisdictional cooperation between tribal and county agencies
The case is one of the few documented hazmat-driven closures in the archive's tribal-college coverage
Outcome
SKC closed campus at 1 p.m. MDT and reopened the following day after smoke conditions improved. No evacuations were ordered by Lake County. No SKC injuries reported. The tire fire continued burning into the evening but smoke plumes diminished from peak levels.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Tire fire sends toxic smoke into skies over Mission, Flathead valleys - Missoulian
    missoulian.com
  2. Official
    Salish Kootenai College - Empowering the Future
    skc.edu
  3. Official
    Rave Alert - Salish Kootenai College
    skc.edu
  4. Official
    Division of Fire | Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes
    cskt.org
Tags
hazmattribal-collegetire-fireair-qualitymontanaearly-closureindustrial-incidentflathead-reservationcskt
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion