Montana Wildfire News: Recent Episodes
Montana Public Radio
Firefighters jump out of planes or dig miles of line to try and stop a fire’s spread. Some do this while pregnant. For women in firefighting, balancing careers with the demands of motherhood can often force them out of the jobs they love. But a new group of women in fire is trying to change that.
Power to thousands of homes was knocked out Wednesday night as a severe thunderstorm swept through western Montana.
As wildfire season heats up across Montana, it can be hard know where to find reliable, up-to-date information. Here's a rundown of the kind of sources, tools and verification we use when covering wildfires — and you can use them too.
An unusually dry winter fueled expectations of a long and active fire season throughout the Northern Rockies. Fire experts, however, say the reality may be more nuanced than that.
It’s wildfire season. Rural communities and those on the outskirts of urban centers face greater danger than others. New research urges homeowners and state officials to rethink how they mitigate risk for those areas.
The Flathead National Forest is reopening more of the Hungry Horse Reservoir to the public as recent rains have helped firefighters contain wildfires in the area.
There were 24 active large fire incidents in the state as of Tuesday morning. Multiple regions in the state are using significant firefighting resources as the state remains in level 3 preparedness.
Rain has slowed the spread of the River Road East Fire that has burned down structures and more than 16,000 acres near the town of Paradise.
The Flathead County Sheriff Friday afternoon issued a new mandatory evacuation order for the 3,000 acre East Fork Fire burning approximately 12 miles outside of Trego, MT. A new fire burning across the river from Paradise is being pushed by strong winds. Highway 200 is closed from Plains to Highway 135 due to the fire activity.
Record setting high temperatures and gusty winds created a dramatic increase in fire activity in western Montana Tuesday. However, much of the increased activity was inside containment lines of existing fires. High water temperatures prompted Montana wildlife officials to implement hoot-owl restrictions on the lower Madison River starting Aug. 16.
Extreme heat and critical fire conditions are forecast through Thursday. Meteorologists say records could be shattered this week.
Residents south of Highway 93 near Elmo are being told to evacuate due to a nearby wildfire. Several areas in Northwest Montana will move to Stage Two fire restrictions Saturday.
The 13,000 acre Middle Ridge Fire burning west of Ronan is listed at 25% containment. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ (CSKT) Division of Fire said crews continued mop up efforts Thursday. The almost 14,000 acre Niarada Fire west of Elmo continues actively burning in a mix of timber and brush.
As fire season heats up across Montana, officials say people living in areas prone to wildfires should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
The Tub Gulch Fire is burning within Libby’s ‘asbestos forest’ near the defunct vermiculite mine. Forest Service crews began emergency fire prevention work this week in the area around Butte’s largest municipal water supply.The Flathead County Commission enacted an emergency declaration Tuesday.
Bone dry conditions, powerful winds and multiple new wildfire starts kept ground and air firefighting resources busy in recent days. Evacuation orders are in effect northwest of Polson due to the Nirada Fire.
Fire officials announced Wednesday that Stage 1 fire restrictions will be implemented across most of northwest Montana this weekend. The move comes in advance of anticipated above-normal temperatures and deepening drought conditions.
Evacuation orders and warnings remain in effect due to the Colt Fire, burning northwest of Seeley Lake. Residents near the intersection of Beaver Creek Road and Highway 83 have been ordered to evacuate. A lightning-caused fire is burning roughly 120 acres five miles east of Arlee.
An evacuation order is in effect due to the Colt Fire, burning 15 miles northwest of Seeley Lake. Evacuations are ordered along Highway 83 between mile-marker 27 and mile-marker 31, Rainy Lake to Summit Lake.
MT’s fire season got off to a slow start this year due to persistent rainfall. But fire officials told Gov. Gianforte that a drying and warming trend will change that.
Wildfire activity across the country is below normal this year. As the summer fire season starts to ramp up, experts ask the public to help prevent unnecessary fires.
Gov. Greg Gianforte Tuesday convened federal, state, tribal and local fire officials for a preview of the state’s wildfire readiness. Forecasters say Montana could see normal fire activity this summer.
Firefighters are taking advantage of Montana’s unusually warm weather to ignite some controlled burns to reduce forest fuels. The goal is to prevent or minimize the impact of more destructive fires later in the summer.
People who fly the drones over wildland fires could soon face criminal penalties under a bill gaining traction at the Legislature.
New research led by a University of Montana professor shows wildfires in the West are destroying more homes per square mile burned than in previous years. Fire ecologist Philip Higuera is the lead author on the publication and spoke with Montana Public Radio’s Austin Amestoy.
A wildfire that started Tuesday afternoon is burning about 100 acres 10 miles west of Polson.
Extreme heat and bone-dry conditions are prompting officials to raise the fire danger and implement burning restrictions in parts of western Montana.
The Matt Staff Fire burning east of Helena has burned over 1,500 acres and is still active but suppressed, according to the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff.
The Elmo Fire near the western shore of Flathead Lake grew to over 18,000 acres at last report. About 150 homes are now in the mandatory evacuation area. Officials on Wednesday said the fire has burned four homes and four outbuildings and has a high potential for reaching Flathead Lake by this evening.
The Elmo Fire near the western shores of Flathead Lake quickly grew to over 12,000 acres over the weekend and is 0 percent contained, as of Monday morning. The blaze spurred the evacuation of over three dozen homes and could threaten more. Pre-evacuation warnings remain in place for residents south of Lake Mary Ronan Road west of Highway 93. Evacuation orders were lifted for Chief Cliff Estates, according to the incident management team.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks says Big Horn, Musselshell and Treasure Counties join Yellowstone County in passing Stage-1 restrictions, which apply to building fires and smoking outside.
Continued hot, dry conditions prompted the Bitterroot National Forest Monday to bump the fire danger up a notch to “Very High.”
The Black Sandy Fire burning in the hills north of Helena prompted about 30 households to evacuate this afternoon.
"You can get an effective room air cleaner that you can make yourself for between $35 and $45," says Mechanical Engineer Tom Javins.
The Hog Trough fire is burning about 300 acres in the Sapphire Wilderness Study Area in both the Bitterroot and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests.
Missoula officials on Monday, July 18, raised the fire danger in the county to ‘high’ due to increasing temperatures and drying vegetation.
Experts say a light blanket of smoke is expected to cover most of Montana throughout the rest of this week. The smoke appears to be coming from the Washburn Fire burning in Yosemite National Park in California.
Montana fire officials are reminding the public of fire danger across the state approaching the Fourth of July holiday. The Flathead, Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests are all currently under moderate fire danger.
A wildfire that burned in the Helena Valley is fully contained after it forced several residents to evacuate from their homes Monday afternoon.
Under the “moderate” danger, officials say fires can start from most accidental causes. Fire Prevention Specialist Anna Bateson says recreators should be sure to thoroughly douse any campfires with water and avoid parking campers and trailers on dry grasses.
The Biden administration made good on a promised, but long-delayed pay raise for federal firefighters on Tuesday. The first of those temporary payments should be delivered next month.
Federal and state land managers in Montana are not yet fully staffed with their usual number of seasonal firefighters. During its hiring process, the U.S. Forest Service has faced the same workforce shortage pressures affecting the private sector.
Potential for significant wildland fire is anticipated to be normal this June, according to the latest forecast from the National Interagency Fire Center. However, that could change later this summer, especially in areas east of the Continental Divide.
Under what’s known as Good Neighbor Authority, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation can carry out logging, thinning and other projects on U.S. Forest Service Land.
The report, spanning several years of data, measured ozone and particle pollution, which are the two most common air pollutants.
The growing national risk of wildfires prompted experts this week to ratchet up the alert system for firefighting resources. It’s a subtle acknowledgment that Montana’s regular wildland fire season is just around the corner.
Interior says its five-year investment in wildfire resilience will help bolster communities and ecosystems against the mounting threat of wildfires.
The three-year project is expected to treat over 10,000 acres of National Forest lands. Much of the work will take place where homes adjoin or intersect with forest land. Treatments will include prescribed fire, commercial timber harvests and non-commercial thinning.
The West Wind Fire in Fergus County is still zero percent contained but was showing minimal fire activity today. Enhanced mapping shows the size of the fire as 10,644 acres, down from an earlier estimate.
High winds, months of drought and record temperatures fueled wildfires in central Montana this week that burned thousands of acres. Dozens of homes, grain elevators and bridges have been lost. MTPR’s Shaylee Ragar talked to some of those impacted by the fires.
Suppression efforts continue on a 30 acre wildfire burning outside Missoula. The investigation into its cause is underway and law enforcement is now asking for the public’s help.
Pre-evacuation warnings are in effect due to a fire near the Blacktail Ski Area, and Stage 1 fire restrictions are now in effect on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
Cooler temperatures in the 50s to low 60s and higher humidity are helping firefighters contain the South Moccasin Fire burning northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County.
The South Moccasin Fire burning northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County grew by more than 1,000 acres overnight, pushed by wind shifts. Five structures have been destroyed, including Yellowstone Public Radio’s transmitter that services the Stanford-Lewistown area.
Extreme fire behavior with wind-driven runs and ember spotting has pushed the South Moccasin Fire to some 7,000 acres as of noon Tuesday. The fire is burning in timber and short grass 7 miles northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County and is zero percent contained.
Just because it’s October doesn’t mean fire season is over. Elevated fire danger either is, or will soon be, in effect for a wide swath of Montana.
A Forest Service spokesperson describes the Haystack Fire as a late fourth-quarter push at a time when fire season is usually winding down. She says exhausted firefighters are now frequently responding to reports of abandoned campfires.
Fifty-one homes in Montana have been destroyed this fire season and nearly 900,000 acres of land in the state has been charred by wildfires.
Last month’s rainfall brought a welcome reprieve to Montana’s active fire season. Experts at the time, however, cautioned it was not a so-called “season-ending” event.
Wildfire evacuations and restrictions are rolling back across Montana amid widespread precipitation and cooler temperatures. But Montana’s 2021fire season is by no means over.
Wildfires have torched almost 800,000 acres in Montana so far this year. But burns in eastern Montana’s grass and farmland and western Montana’s mountainous, timbered landscape behave very differently. Freddy Monares spoke to MTPR reporter and editor on the podcast Fireline Nick Mott about the different types of fires in Montana.
The Pine Grove fire has triggered a state of emergency on the Fort Belknap reservation. Mandatory evacuations are in place for Pine Grove, Zortman and the surrounding area. Lodge Pole and Starhill are still under an evacuation warning. The good news: Rain and cooler temperatures are on their way to Montana.
The 150,000-acre Richard Spring Fire burning south of Colstrip across the Northern Cheyenne reservation is 15 percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon.Evacuations are in place for Ashland, Lame Deer, North Tongue River, Highway 212, Rabbit Town, St. Labre campus and the Amish community.
According to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, the Meagher County Sheriff’s Office has issued an evacuation order for the Woods Creek area. The evacuation orders are for Gipsy Creek to Big Birch Creek.
Over 1,800 fires have burned over a half million acres in Montana amid hot, dry weather and drought. Fire managers say the fire season is still months away from ending. MTPR’s Edward O’Brien joins Freddy Monares for a big-picture look at how crews are doing.
Montana fire officials estimate approximately 38 residences have been lost to fires this year, and roughly 600 people are displaced from their homes due to evacuation orders on nine fires.
The Boulder 2700 Fire burning more than 1,000 acres east of Flathead Lake near Polson has burned 8 primary structures and 17 secondary structures as of this afternoon, according to incident officials. Evacuation orders issued July 31 for residents along Highway 35 from mile marker 6 to 13 on the east side of Flathead Lake, including all of Finley Point, remain in effect.