fire

Montana is famous for having a tough fire season, but although helicopters and line crews are a regular sight around wildfires like the Lolo Creek Complex, things are done differently at Yellowstone National park.

While the Lolo Creek Complex fire has garnered the most attention over the past week, the Rock Creek fire near Red Lodge is Montana's second highest priority.

Starting at around 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, August 22, the Ought-7 fire spread to 300 acres over fine fuels along U.S. Highway 12.

The Gold Pan fire has grown to be one of the nation's largest fires and has recently spread across the state line from Idaho. Incident Management Team Spokeswoman Doloara Gogger said that the recent winds that spread the Lolo Creek Complex fire also hit the Gold Pan, but the impact was less severe...

About 110 Montana National Guard soldiers are being deployed to help firefighting efforts in western Montana. This is the first fire related deployment of 2013.

An employee of a Missoula auto body shop, who was injured in an explosion and fire when a spark ignited fumes from lacquer thinner, has died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was identified as Bruce Hall, 44.

The Lolo Complex Fire was originally two low-priority fires that did not threaten structures. However, in the past 40 hours, hot weather and winds have fanned the fires into an official state of emergency. Now, the West Fork II fire and the original School House Fire are considered one giant threat as they burn on both sides of Highway 12.

UPDATE 4:15 p.m. Monday, August 19 Mandatory evacuations are in effect in the Bear Creek area as two fires, the School House and the West Fork 2, are combining to burn hundreds of acres and send smoke billowing up over Blue Mountain raining ash on homes in Lolo and into Missoula. Missoula County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer paige Pavalone said at about 4 p.m. Monday, that deputies w

The Gold Pan Fire Complex near the Idaho-Montana border is getting more difficult to fight as two new fires were absorbed into the main blaze this week.

The air around Missoula may be filled with smoke during the second week of August, but most of that is from Idaho, not Montana. Chris Johnson of the Lolo National Forest says that local crews have been able to keep fire starts down thanks partly to higher humidity, however, there have been multiple opportunities for a bigger blaze.