Hot, dry weather causes more wildfires in Montana

Associated Press

HELENA, Mont. &#8212 A trio of fast-moving new wildfires in Montana threatened more than 100 homes and other buildings, and 80 were under evacuation orders, officials said Monday.

One blaze, discovered Saturday and believed to have been human-caused, had burned about 1,000 acres – roughly a square mile – along Interstate 90 in western Montana southeast of Missoula. Residents of about 40 homes were asked to leave, according to fire information officials.

Farther to the southeast, near Philipsburg, residents of another 40 homes were ordered to leave in advance of another new blaze that had burned about 1,000 acres there. About 40 other outbuildings also were threatened by that blaze, and crews were placing protective fire wrapping around the structures Monday, said Nick Spang, fire information officer. Erratic winds were expected as a cold front moved through.

“We’re not letting anyone up there unless they’re going up to there to collect belongings,” he said.

A third fire in the area has been burning for more than two weeks but flared up recently, said Nick Spang, a fire information officer. Granite County authorities were prepared to evacuate as many as 100 homes threatened by the 300-plus-acre wildfire.