Firefighters have been battling large, wind pushed wildfires in central Montana that have destroyed several homes and outbuildings.
The National Weather Service’s warning of rapidly spreading wildfires proved to be true on Wednesday with large fires in McCone, Musselshell and Garfield counties.
"We can see wildland fires almost any time of the year," says Al Nash with the Montana Dakota Division of the Bureau of Land Management.
"But the circumstances we’ve had in recent days with a drought, limited snow cover and extraordinarily high winds are really quite rare."
The West Glendive Fire Department reports via Facebook a downed power line ignited the 3,200 acre Great Divide Fire Wednesday.
A mix of local and county fire departments, electric cooperatives, landowners, businesses and the Montana Highway Patrol responded and were able to protect three homes from the fast moving fire fueled by sustained winds of 37 miles per hour, with gusts up to 70 mph.
"[Wednesday] was probably the most dynamic fire our county has seen in a very long time... Have we mentioned it’s the middle of January?" a West Glendive Fire Department Facebook post reads.
High winds also pushed the North Delphia Fire through more than a thousand acres of timber, grass and brush in Musselshell County.
A post on the county’s Disaster and Emergency Services Facebook page reports three primary homes and several secondary structures were destroyed.
DES reported that local volunteer fire crews battled horrendous winds overnight as they attempted to save what structures they could.
Musselshell County Sheriff Shawn Lesnik credits the five volunteer fire departments from Roundup, Dean Creek, Bull Mountain, Hawk Creek and Melstone with reducing the loss of property from this fire thanks to “the time, energy and professionalism demonstrated during this dangerous incident.”
A primary home in the Brusett area of Garfield County was destroyed in the 378 acre Cap Rock Fire that started Wednesday afternoon 34 miles northwest of Jordan, according to a Garfield County DES Facebook post.
Rural fire crews and seven engines, a grader and a bobcat responded on Wednesday.
BLM was able to send some crews to assist rural fire departments in Garfield County, although Nash said this is typically the agency’s down time of the year.
(You know we have some firefighting capability that we are able to deploy year round. We have some staff that does work full time. But frankly we focus most of our hiring and work force during the summer fire season. 0:18)
Fire crews in both Musselshell and Garfield counties were expected to remain on the fire lines Thursday due to continued threat of high winds.
