Montana Wildfire News

The Pine Grove fire has triggered a state of emergency on the Fort Belknap reservation. Mandatory evacuations are in place for Pine Grove, Zortman and the surrounding area. Lodge Pole and Starhill are still under an evacuation warning. The good news: Rain and cooler temperatures are on their way to Montana.

The 150,000-acre Richard Spring Fire burning south of Colstrip across the Northern Cheyenne reservation is 15 percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon.Evacuations are in place for Ashland, Lame Deer, North Tongue River, Highway 212, Rabbit Town, St. Labre campus and the Amish community.

According to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, the Meagher County Sheriff’s Office has issued an evacuation order for the Woods Creek area. The evacuation orders are for Gipsy Creek to Big Birch Creek.

Over 1,800 fires have burned over a half million acres in Montana amid hot, dry weather and drought. Fire managers say the fire season is still months away from ending. MTPR’s Edward O’Brien joins Freddy Monares for a big-picture look at how crews are doing.

Montana fire officials estimate approximately 38 residences have been lost to fires this year, and roughly 600 people are displaced from their homes due to evacuation orders on nine fires.

The Boulder 2700 Fire burning more than 1,000 acres east of Flathead Lake near Polson has burned 8 primary structures and 17 secondary structures as of this afternoon, according to incident officials. Evacuation orders issued July 31 for residents along Highway 35 from mile marker 6 to 13 on the east side of Flathead Lake, including all of Finley Point, remain in effect.

4:45 p.m.: A wildfire burning 8 miles east of Polson has resulted in structure losses and evacuations on the East Side of Flathead Lake. Lake County issued a mandatory evacuation notice for the Finley point area early Sunday morning. The evacuation area also includes the section of highway 35 from mile marker 6 through mile marker 13. Entry to Finley Point was closed as of 2 p.m. with predicted high winds in the area.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s office has issued a pre-evacuation warning for additional areas near the South Yaak Fire burning 4 miles northwest of Troy.

Gov. Greg Gianforte joined six other western governors Friday in a meeting with President Joe Biden to talk about wildfires. Thousands of acres are burning across the state of Montana amid a severe drought and high temperatures.

The 53,000 acre Poverty Flats Fire is threatening more than 1,240 homes around Big Horn County. It’s also threatening infrastructure, utilities and roads in the area.