Updates on wildfires burning in and around western Montana.
Firefighters in Glacier National Park are bracing for gusty winds that could help the Reynolds Creek Fire grow beyond its current size of 4,000 acres.
Information Officer Penny Bertram says crews have been preparing in case the wind causes the fire to flare up.
"They’ve got some line built. Some of the fire they’ve managed to get it run into rocks, but they are worried about spot fires this afternoon."
Some 300 firefighters are working the blaze. The east side of the park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road remains closed, although Bertram adds most of the park remains open and unaffected by the fire.
"The fire is really impacting such a small area of the park that visitors can really come to a majority of the park and they will never even know there’s a fire, so I think that’s really important for them to know."
Two campgrounds, a motel and a visitor center remain evacuated in the area near the fire. For people in the community, the Park Service is holding an informational meeting tonight at 6:00 in the Great Bear Conference Room of the St. Mary Lodge.
Meanwhile firefighters are making little progress against the Cabin Gulch Fire east of Townsend. The fire is still reported at 1,616 acres, and 25 percent contained. That fire began Tuesday. One man was arrested by the Broadwater County Sheriff’s Department and charged with arson and Criminal Mischief in connection with the fire.
The third active fire in the region is the Rock Point fire in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho, about three miles from the Montana state line. That lightning-caused fire now stands at 177 acres. No structures are threatened by the Rock Point Fire.
Find more wildfire news and information here.
