Montana Wildfire News

A weekend of lower temperature and higher humidity brought no substantial new wildfire starts across the state, and allowed firefighters to make a dent in existing blazes. 

Forecasters say to expect increasing fire danger and more smoke as the week progresses. 

Salvage logging on a portion of the Rice Ridge Fire burn area near Seeley Lake is set to begin soon. The U.S. Forest Service is finalizing plans to log about 5,600 acres on the 160,000 acres that burned in the biggest wildfire Montana saw last summer.

I recently visited the salvage logging site, about half a mile drive outside Seeley Lake, with Megan Fylling and Willaim Blake. They’re avian biologists, Fylling is with the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab and Blake at MPG Ranch.

Mild weather unlikely to expand wildfires is expected this weekend, after a week of high temperatures, low humidity and a Red Flag Warning - or an indication that weather is ripe for wildfires to start and spread. That red flag warning for the western two-thirds of Montana is set to expire at midnight tonight.

The National Weather Service says fire-weather conditions now exist across much of Montana, with high temperatures, low humidity and strong wind gusts forecast through tomorrow. Red flag warnings are in effect.