Montana Wildfire News

Yesterday at about 6:00 pm the Mineral County Sheriff moved both Quartz Flats and Sunrise communities into a stage 3 evacuation. A stage 3 evacuation means that the residents in those areas need to leave the area immediately. Additionally, the Sheriff moved the Verde Creek residents into stage 2, which means that those residents need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Today at about 11:00 am, the Lolo National Forest issued A stage 1 evacuation notice for the Rivulet area. Stage 1 means to stay alert and keep informed of the fire.

Updated 6:30 p.m.

Crews tackling the Lolo Peak fire have switched from hand tools to heavy logging equipment to quicken the construction of a control line in the highway 12 corridor. Public Information Officer Mike Cole says the roughly 1000-acre fire in the Selway Bitteroot Wilderness is expected to eventually move down slope and this line will create a barrier for homes abutting national forest land.

Today fire managers in Lewis and Clark County said firefighters and a helicopter responded to a new fire ten miles northeast of Lincoln in the Alice Creek drainage. It is estimated at 15 acres in size, with zero percent containment.

As of 8 p.m. Friday, July 21, evacuations have been ordered for residents in the entire area north of Highway 200 from the Petroleum County Line and West of Edwards Road, due to the threat from the Lodgepole Complex fires. 

The evacuation area includes: Big Bart Coulee, Haley Coulee, Benzien School Area, Benzien Road all the way to Steve Forks Road, and Battle Coulee Area.

The Red Cross has set up an evacuation shelter at the VFW Hall in Jordan. 

There will be a Community Meeting Tomorrow for the Whetstone Ridge & Myers Fires. Representatives from the Goat Creek, Little Hogback, and Sliderock Fires will be presenting an update on those fires. The meeting is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Philipsburg School located at 407 Schnepel St. in Philipsburg, Montana.

There will be a public meeting for the Lolo Peak Fire on Monday, July 24, at 7:00 p.m. in the gymnasium at the Lolo Elementary School.

An interactive map of the fire can be found here.

At a press conference Thursday, Mike Wheelock, the president of the company that employed 19-year-old firefighter Trenton Johnson was visibly shaken while giving details of the accident that killed Johnson on Wednesday.

"We just ask that you keep the family in your prayers, and the fellow workers, and all the firefighters that are out there right now on the line," he said, choking up. 

Updated 12:53 am

The Monahan Fire on the Lolo National Forest in the Seeley Lake District has moved onto the Flathead National Forest in the Southern Spotted Bear Ranger District. The fire is predicted at 175 acres, with just a few of those acres on the Flathead National Forest. This is a high elevation fire, managed for fire to play its natural role. Trails are closed at Limestone Pass and Blackfoot Divide.

This story was updated at 3:30pm.

Trenton Johnson was on just his second assignment for Oregon-based Grayback Forestry when he was struck by a falling tree.

Updated 6:05 pm

Fire officials in the greater Flathead Valley say there’s been 86 wildfires reported in the area since July 1, and at least half of them are human caused. The area is currently pegged at “Very High” fire danger, as hot, dry conditions and almost daily lightning storms persist.

Lincoln Chute is the fire manager for Flathead County Office of Emergency Services.

Updated 6:50 pm

In addition to the Lolo Peak Fire, several other fires on the Lolo National Forest include a pair on the Ninemile ranger district. Those are the approximately three acre Sunrise Fire, located ten miles south of Superior, and the estimated 12-mile Burdette Fire is located about nine miles southeast of Tarkio. That fire showed minimal activity yesterday.

On the Seeley Lake Ranger District, the Monahan Fire is located about 17 miles north of Ovando and is burning near the Wilderness boundary in remote terrain.

Update: 5:15 p.m., 07/15/17

In Lewis & Clark County west of Wolf Creek, homes have been evacuated on Lynx Trail Drive, Whispering Pines Road, North Lyons Creek Road. Anyone who has been evacuated may find shelter at the Wolf Creek School.

Update 4:15 PM:

New fires are cropping up and emergency officials are preparing for potentially dangerous fire weather over the weekend. About 2:00 this afternoon evacuations started east of Roundup due to a fire estimated at 2,000 acres that was discovered this morning.

The Red Cross has set up a shelter for evacuees in Roundup, it is unclear at this time how many people might be displaced.

Updated 10:45 AM.

In Northwest Montana:

Weather conditions kept behavior of the Lazier Creek 3 Fire "moderate" yesterday, firefighters report. Today's estimate of the fire's size remaines at 1,145 acres, and 30 percent contained, the same as yesterday. There are 176 personnel assigned to the fire.

The fire is located south of Highway 2 and west of the Thompson River Road.

Lightning on Friday afternoon resulted in several fire starts across Northwest Montana, some of which were not detected until Sunday.

Montana's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation reports numerous fires scattered throughout the Pleasant Valley/Happy’s Inn/ACM/Fisher River area.

A mixed bag of news today from the July fire burning south of the Fort Belknap Reservation in Phillips County.