A small wildfire that was discovered Monday on the Flathead Reservation is now being called 80 percent contained. Responders say the blaze was sparked by lightning either Sunday or Monday.
The wildfire burned just two and a half miles northwest of Arlee. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire and local firefighters were able to contain 20 percent of the blaze shortly after responding Monday evening.
Division of Fire Spokesperson C.T. Camel says no structures were threatened and the fire burned mostly grasslands.
“There’s a couple engines on it and also an eight-man hand crew that secured the line with a burnout operation in the evening. It got to 24 acres. Three-quarters of it was in grass and the other quarter was in timber.”
A handful of fires have broken out on the reservation so far this year, but all were under an acre. Currently the fire danger is rated "moderate," but with little to no rain in the forecast over the next 10 days, that rating is likely to become "high."
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