The Latest on 6 Wildfires in Montana

(EUREKA) --The Weasel Fire continues to grow in the northeast corner of Lincoln County. Gusty winds on Thursday helped it make an extended 5-mile run Northeast towards Frozen Lake. The lightning-caused fire has crossed onto the Flathead National Forest and into Canada expanding to 2,274 acres as of Saturday morning, August 6th. Approximately 50% of the fire is in Canada and the remainder on the Kootenai and Flathead National Forests. The fire continues to spread in heavy dense fuels in difficult terrain and experienced minor growth on Friday. A U.S. Type 3 Incident Management Team based in Eureka, Montana and a B.C. Wildfire Service Incident Management Team in Cranbrook, British Columbia, are closely coordinating on wildfire management and are sharing resources as required.
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HELENA - The estimated size of the Matt Staff Fire has been reduced from 1900 acres to 1500 acres, as of midday, Saturday. 135 firefighters are being aided by a Superscooper tanker plane, four smaller "Fire Boss" planes, and several helicopters. Mother Nture helped out, with cooler temperatures and calmer winds over the past 24 hours. A little rain fell this morning, as well. A fire information officer told KSEN/K96 news this (Saturday) morning that the fire's growth has slowed considerably, no structures have been lost, and all evacuation orders have been lifted.
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ELMO, Mont. (InciWeb) — The Elmo Fire experienced limited growth yesterday of 566 acres for a total of 21,193 acres. Firefighters kept the fire south of Lake Mary Ronan Scooper planes dropped approximately 600,000 gallons of water to slow the fire's approach to the lake from the ridge. This allowed ground crews work on mitigating and preparing around structures.
Today, crews and equipment will be supported by aircraft as they reinforce and secure lines around the most active sections of the fire south of Lake Mary Ronan. Firefighters on the eastern and western sides of the fire remain critical to limiting fire growth, securing lines as active fire along the edge still exists. Continuous firelines are holding near Cromwell Creek to the west and structure protection resources remain in place on the east side. The southern edge along Highway 28 remains contained and in patrol status.
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(DILLON) - The Clover Fire started by lightning on July 13 as a result of a lightning strike. This wildfire is located in the Middle fork of Warm Springs Creek on the Madison Ranger District of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest. The fire is currently 1099 acres, and is being managed under a confine/contain strategy due to fuel conditions, geographic location and values at risk. The objective is to contain the fire to an area south of Hwy 38 and between two Forest Service Roads. The fire is expected to push against east side of the fire, potentially throwing spot fires into undesirable areas. In addition, possible thunderstorms may have gusty and erratic winds. Those thunderstorms also have the potential to drop up to .35" of rain on the fire area.
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(HAMILTON) -- The Hog Trough Fire was discovered July 17th. It covers an estimated 779 acres, and is located five miles east of Black Bear Campground and seven miles southwest of Skalkaho Falls. It is burning in the Sapphire Wilderness Study Area (WSA) on both the Bitterroot and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests. The terrain in which the fire is burning in is extremely rocky, steep and filled with heavy accumulations of down woody debris. Fire behavior will remain active along the fire's western flank; however, minimal fire spread is expected. In the southeast corner, short lodgepole pine stands could torch and experience short-range spotting up to a few feet. This activity is expected to remain interior to the fire. The fire continues to burn pockets of unburned fuel on the western edge of the perimeter, along the 2005 Signal Rock Fire burn footprint. There are no structures currently threatened and no evacuations. A Temporary Flight Restriction is in place over the fire area. Use of unauthorized unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, in a fire area endangers the lives of pilots and firefighters.
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The Redhorn Fire is burning on 281 acres 7 air miles northeast of St. Ignatius, Montana in Tribal Mission Mountain Wilderness within the Grizzly Bear Management Zone. On Friday (August 5) hand crews continued constructing a fuel break along the M-3000 road, starting at McDonald Lake headed west. Helicopter water drops ere done throughout the day along the lower west perimeter of the fire, focused on slowing downhill movement of the fire. There are no evacuations and closures associated with the fire at this time, although the area is closed to recreation due to grizzly bear habitat from July 15 to October 1 yearly.

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