Cooler temperatures and snow Tuesday helped firefighters to improve containment lines and extinguish hot spots on the 4,900 acre Yogo Fire burning in the Little Belt Mountains. The fire is now 30 percent contained.
Firefighters are preparing for another day of strong winds with gusts up to 50 miles an hour. But the arrival of snow is expected to help extinguish spot fires.
The Yogo Fire started on October 3 in the Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest and the cause is unknown.
The 803 acre Box Car Fire that began late Saturday afternoon on Bureau of Land Management land west of Jordan in Garfield County is 100 percent contained. The fire is listed as human caused and cost $575-thousand dollars to fight.
The 3,200 acre Boxelder Fire that started on private land on Monday southeast of Ekalaka in Carter County is contained as of Wednesday. The Northern Rockies Coordination Center has identified the Boxelder Fire as human caused.
The change in weather conditions has helped to reduce fire activity in Montana and the rest of the country. The National Interagency Fire Center has lowered the Northern Rockies to preparedness level one, the lowest level on a scale of 5. The national preparedness level has been dropped to 3.
Get the latest Montana wildfire, fire management and air quality news on your radio, via podcast, or in your inbox.
Copyright 2020 Montana Public Radio. To see more, visit . 9(MDIyMjUyODczMDE0NTMzMDcxODE2NTgwYQ000))
