Fire season is getting underway in northwest Montana: The Magpie Rock Fire 8 miles west of Dixon tripled in size since Tuesday, and is now estimated at 1,000 acres.
The fire is burning through dense timber and brush, according to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire spokesperson C.T. Camel. The smoke is preventing helicopters from getting an accurate size estimate.
“So we’re just going with 1,000 acres for now,” Camel said. “[The] incident commander believes it’s larger than that.”
The CSKT Division of Fire said there are no evacuations and no structures are threatened as of Wednesday afternoon.
The fire remains at 0% containment because firefighters weren’t able to make progress with 20-mph wind gusts Tuesday, Camel said. About 160 personnel are responding, but Camel added that nearly 40 more firefighters will soon join the lines.
Fire officials believe the fire was caused by lightning.
About 45 firefighters are working on the 20-acre Horseshoe Fire that’s along the Flathead River roughly 10 miles southwest of Polson. Camel said that fire is thought to have been caused by an unattended campfire. No structures were threatened as of Wednesday afternoon.
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