fire

What was a controlled burn quickly turned into an out of control fire Thursday in the 5000 block of Pattee Canyon Road in Missoula.

Missoula Emergency Services recently received a $1,890 grant from MF Global to overhaul the software used in emergency response vehicles.

At around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Missoula Fire Department responded to a fire at the Howard Johnson Motel on Brooks Street.

Update 3 p.m.: According to reports from the scene, the structure fire as been extinguished. It appears that the exterior of the one-story home that was on fire is mostly intact. Firefighter crews are still on the scene with personnel working inside the home. A structure fire near Clinton drew the response of firefighters from the Missoula Rural Fire Department and the Clinton Rural Fire District

Although the official end of fire season doesn't kick in until the end of September, there is good news on the firefighting front in Missoula.

Anyone that lives in the western U.S. is likely living near land managed by the federal government. Many Western Montana counties, for example, have more than 50 percent of their land under federal control, a situation that poses problems for local use and tax revenue.

Update 1 p.m. 9/17- Though the Miller Creek fire is still burning, wet weather and cold temperatures today have helped firefighters make quick work of the blaze.

A Missoula area transient is in custody Wednesday morning, September 11, after allegedly starting a fire near the Kim Williams Trail at the base of Mount Sentinel.

Despite all of the rain and humidity, a lightning storm on September 4 has kept fire crews busy in the Bitterroot National Forest.

A change in the weather has also changed the fire danger level for Missoula County.