National Interagency Fire Center

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.

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.

Montana’s cool, wet spring and early summer is on the cusp of giving way to hotter and drier conditions. The summer wildfire season will soon ramp up, though potential for significant fires remains normal this month.

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.

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.

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.

The National Interagency Fire Center Tuesday bumped the national preparedness level up a notch to its next-to-highest rating.The agency says this is the…

Updated 5 p.m.Robertson Draw FireCrews had contained more than half of the 30,000 acre Robertson Draw Fire south of Red Lodge as of Tuesday morning.In an…

Fire experts say the potential for significant wildland fires west of the Divide is normal for now but will grow and spread into tinder-dry eastern…

A wildfire that has blackened the base of Mount Sentinel east of the University of Montana is now 75 percent contained, according to a 9 p.m. update from…