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

Montana Wildfire Roundup For July 27, 2015

Fire officials say the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park is now 30 percent contained.
Jennifer McKee
Fire officials say the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park is now 30 percent contained.

Updates on wildfires burning in and around western Montana.Cool, wet weather today helped firefighters make progress on the Reynolds Creek Fire in Glacier National Park, and the St. Mary Visitor Center at the east entrance to the park reopened today.

Crews have completed fire line around the east end of the fire, which is now 30 percent contained. Fire officials now estimate the blaze’s size at just over 3,300 acres.

One hotshot team on the fire today planned to build fire line above Going-to-the-Sun Road while another planned to extinguish hotspots at the head of the fire.

Fire officials say when the sun comes out between rain showers, hot spots revive and fire spreads across the forest floor.

An 18 mile stretch of Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side of the park remains closed.

The weather forecast for the St. Mary area calls for continued light rain showers tonight, with temperatures warming and windspeeds increasing through the rest of the week.

The Cabin Gulch fire east of Townsend is now being called 92 percent contained, and many of the 153 people working that fire are expected to be released today.

Meanwhile, firefighters on the Crow Reservation have responded to 10 mostly grassland fires in the last week. One that started yesterday has burned about 1,700 acres, fanned by 50 mile per hour wind gusts.

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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