The 15,000 acre Lolo Peak Fire is quickly outgrowing law enforcement’s ability to secure the estimated 600 homes now evacuated along the Highway 93 and Highway 12 corridors. Missoula County Commissioners are now considering turning to the Montana National Guard for help.
The evacuation area for the Lolo Peak Fire was extended further south down the Highway 93 corridor this afternoon. It now stretches from mile marker 78 south of Lolo all the way to the north end of Florence.That area under the mandatory evacuation area is on the West side of Highway 93 only.
Florence itself is in a new evacuation Warning area, stretching from Tie Chute Lane south to Bass Creek Road.
The Lolo Peak Fire southwest of Missoula burned through almost 5-thousand acres during its run last night. Stiff winds spurred that now 15-thousand-acre fire on its four-mile push to the east.
The Missoula County Fairgrounds is accepting RVs and animals displaced by local fires. People need to check in and sign intake forms with the fair office upon arrival.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is clearing the way for farmers in that state to help out their drought-stricken colleagues in the Northern Plains. Walker has declared a 30-day state of emergency for the purpose of transporting loads of forage to the Dakotas and Montana. All three states have been dealing with extreme drought this summer.
A 61-year-old Oregon man who was shot by a Montana sheriff's deputy is charged with trying to kill the deputy during a pursuit in southwestern Montana. Mark William Collins, whose last known address was Corvallis, Oregon, was charged yesterday with attempted deliberate homicide for driving a van toward a Powell County deputy on August 4. He faces four other felony charges.