YPR News

The Flathead County Sheriff’s office Wednesday lifted all evacuation orders for the Hay Creek Fire near Polebridge.

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 roughly 171,000-acre Richard Spring Fire south of Colstrip reached 65 percent contained over the weekend, up from 0 percent containment Friday. Some evacuation and pre-evacuation notices remain in effect in the area.

It's Thursday, August 12th. The largest wildfire in Montana prompts evacuations, how exceptionally dry soil conditions could impact crops and the Missoula school board decides on masking policy for it's public schools.

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.

The Rosebud County Department of Emergency Services has issued an evacuation notice for the Ashland area due to the 63,000-acre Richard Spring Fire burning southwest of Colstrip. The fire is anticipated to burn to the south and east today through another 20,000 to 30,000 acres in Rosebud County.

A new fire over the weekend has torched roughly 1,300 acres near Absarokee, prompting fire officials on Sunday to evacuate nearby residents. The Trout Creek Fire in Stillwater County forced evacuations from the intersection of Stillwater Rd. and Spring Creek Rd, west to Sandy Dr., including Beehive, Midnight Canyon and Grove Creek Subdivisions.

In Meagher County Sunday an evacuation order was issued and then lifted for residents in the Grassy Mountain area due to the Woods Gulch Fire burning 16 miles northeast of Townsend. A section of Highway 12 was also briefly closed. As of 6:30 p.m., those evacuation orders, which had been issued an hour-and-a-half earlier., were rolled-back to a pre-evacuation warning. Highway 12 was also re-opened.

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.

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.