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Wildfire, fire management and air quality news for western Montana and the Northern Rockies.

Montana Wildfire Update For July 08, 2021

A pre-evacuation warning has been issued due to a wildfire burning near Belt Park, MT in the area on the map surrounded by red. July 8, 2021.
Cascade County Disaster and Emergency Services

Updated 7:25 p.m., July 08, 2021.

Cascade County Disaster and Emergency Services is asking residents near the Balsinger Fire burning in the Little Belt Mountains area to prepare to evacuate. According to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, the pre-evacuation ordered is for the west side of the Belt Park subdivision to Highway 89 and the Deer Creek estates subdivision. At the time of Cascade County’s pre-evacuation notice shortly before 5 p.m., the Balsinger fire was burning about 20 acres.

Pre-evacuation Notices In Musselshell County

Lightning Sparks Fires Across Montana

A series of thunderstorms rumbled across western Montana’s Lolo National Forest Wednesday, where officials recorded over 800 lightning strikes. Firefighters are now working to suppress at least 30 new wildfires on multiple fronts.

The Lolo National Forest’s western-most portion, including the Superior and Plains-Thompson Falls Ranger Districts bore the brunt of Wednesday’s storms. Smoke from some of these fires burning near Superior and St. Regis are clearly visible from nearby Interstate 90.

“We have fire in proximity to some communities, but there are no immediate threats," says Lolo National Forest Supervisor Carolyn Upton. "We don’t have any evacuations right now. We are actively suppressing many fires in the area and accessing situations as they become known to us."

A Type-1 Incident Management team, reserved for complex incidents will take command Friday of several wildfires burning on the forest.

"It will bring experienced command and general staff with it, the ability to manage multiple fires, the ability to work with our local leadership, our local communities; it will bring all of those resources with it that will add capacity to our local units," Upton says.

Upton says local firefighters, smoke jumpers and aircraft resources have been and will continue working around the clock to suppress the fires and any new starts.

Lightning strikes Wednesday started five new fires on the Flathead Indian Reservation. According to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Division of Fire, four of the starts are contained and in patrol status.

Smoke Begins To Drift Into The State

Widespread wildfire smoke smudged the sky in parts of western and central Montana Thursday morning. A Missoula air quality specialist says it marks the unofficial beginning of what is likely to be a long wildfire smoke season. 

Smoke from wildfires burning in Idaho and Washington drifted into Montana Wednesday night. Missoula City-County Air Quality Specialist Sarah Coefield says this is one of the earliest starts to smoke season she can remember. 

“I was honestly thinking I’d have another week or two before I had to get into wildfire smoke updates.” 

By mid-Thursday morning air quality conditions in Frenchtown and Seeley Lake deteriorated to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.

That means people with heart and lung disease, children and the elderly should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. Air quality was ‘Moderate’ in a handful of other western and central Montana communities, including Missoula.

Coefield urges Montanans to prepare for the summer smoke season by visiting montanawildfiresmoke.org. The website features a trove of information including current smoke conditions, health risks and tips for improving indoor air quality:

“Make sure you have a safe space inside your home to get some respite when we do have those smokey days. Pay attention to how your body is reacting to smoke and check in on your friends and neighbors. This tends to be a community effort to help us all get through what’s never a very fun season for anybody, Coefield says.

Learn how to make an inexpensive home air filter.

Friday’s air quality should be better than Thursday’s, but a return to grubby conditions is likely this weekend.

The Little Money 2 Fire about two miles west of Perma is estimated to be over 100 acres in size and was 0% contained as of Thursday morning. Clear Creek and Painted Rocks roads are closed. CT Camel with the CSKT Division of Fire said no structures were threatened as of Thursday afternoon.

The Burnt Peak Fire about 14 miles southwest of Troy was detected Wednesday. According to a Facebook post by the Kootenai National Forest, the wildfire was estimated at about 75 acres as of Thursday evening. The release says road and area closures are expected and public is asked to stay out of the area. Nearly 40 firefighters, including air resources, are working on the blaze. More resources have been ordered. Smoke may be visible from Troy. No structures were listed as threatened as of Thursday afternoon.

Statistics from Northern Rockies Coordination Center show lightning has caused 17 percent of the wildfires in Montana year-to-date. Data from the Miles City Dispatch Center on WildCad connect four different fire starts in southeast Montana Wednesday to lightning strikes. 

DNRC Fire Information officer Kristin Sleeper asks for people to call 911 if they see smoke.

"Calling it in is so important to us, so we can aggressively attack these fires to keep them small."

Sleeper says trees, stumps and root systems struck by lightning may smolder for days before exploding into a wildfire.

Crow Reservation fire officials identify lightning as the cause of the 260 acre Section House Fire burning 12 miles southwest of Pryor on the West Pryor Mountain on the reservation.

Jon Kohn is an information officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Crow Agency Fire Management He says the fire is 30 percent contained with a bulldozer line as of late Wednesday afternoon. He says air resources have been able to attack the fire along the mountain’s limestone ridges, which are inaccessible to engines and hand crews.

The Northern Rockies Geographical Area has moved to Preparedness Level 4, the second highest preparedness level because of increased fire activity and demand for firefighting resources. The National Preparedness Level is also at 4. 

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