An investigation of the human-caused fire at the North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park resulted in a suspect who was charged for discarding a lit cigarette in a hazardous manner.
It all started at approximately 2:30pm on July 15th, 2017 south of Lolo, Montana as lightning induced wildfire. 3 months later, the Forest Service issued their last update on this summer monster.
Although there are still several "active incidents" on the Montana wildfire roster, the snow that we've received in September has drastically improved conditions. It might be the most welcome snow we've ever seen.
You can see it with your own eyes. The air quality around the state continues to be very poor and hazardous in certain counties. Montana wildfires continue to burn with no significant rain in sight.
Hundreds of thousands of acres have burned in Montana this summer. If some of these aren't "going out" until the snow flies (significantly), I'm willing to try anything.
There's good containment news to report on the Cottonwood Gulch fire burning north of Manhattan. The fire has burned 8,300 acres and is now 80% contained.
The current size of the Cottonwood Gulch fire north of Manhattan is 8.300 acres and it's 15% contained as of Tuesday morning. Here's the latest official word.
Reasonably good news to report about the Cottonwood Gulch Fire as it did not grow as much overnight as it did on Sunday. Currently at 8,700 acres and thought to be human caused.