Montana Wildfire News

Pre-evacuation warnings are in effect due to a fire near the Blacktail Ski Area, and Stage 1 fire restrictions are now in effect on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Cooler temperatures in the 50s to low 60s and higher humidity are helping firefighters contain the South Moccasin Fire burning northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County.

The South Moccasin Fire burning northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County grew by more than 1,000 acres overnight, pushed by wind shifts. Five structures have been destroyed, including Yellowstone Public Radio’s transmitter that services the Stanford-Lewistown area.

Extreme fire behavior with wind-driven runs and ember spotting has pushed the South Moccasin Fire to some 7,000 acres as of noon Tuesday. The fire is burning in timber and short grass 7 miles northwest of Lewistown in Fergus County and is zero percent contained.

Just because it’s October doesn’t mean fire season is over. Elevated fire danger either is, or will soon be, in effect for a wide swath of Montana.

A Forest Service spokesperson describes the Haystack Fire as a late fourth-quarter push at a time when fire season is usually winding down. She says exhausted firefighters are now frequently responding to reports of abandoned campfires.

Fifty-one homes in Montana have been destroyed this fire season and nearly 900,000 acres of land in the state has been charred by wildfires.

Last month’s rainfall brought a welcome reprieve to Montana’s active fire season. Experts at the time, however, cautioned it was not a so-called “season-ending” event.

Wildfire evacuations and restrictions are rolling back across Montana amid widespread precipitation and cooler temperatures. But Montana’s 2021fire season is by no means over.

Wildfires have torched almost 800,000 acres in Montana so far this year. But burns in eastern Montana’s grass and farmland and western Montana’s mountainous, timbered landscape behave very differently. Freddy Monares spoke to MTPR reporter and editor on the podcast Fireline Nick Mott about the different types of fires in Montana.