HELENA – Wildfires are churning through grass and timber across Montana, fueled by high temperatures, low humidity and gusting winds.
The Granite County Sheriff’s Office urged residents in the Brewster Creek area south of Interstate 90 near Rock Creek to leave their homes Friday as strong winds increased the size of one fire to just over 1 square mile.
Other residents between mile markers 5 and 13 of Rock Creek Road have been told to prepare to evacuate.
The Northern Rockies Coordination Center reports 19 large fires currently burning across Montana.
Four fires have scorched a combined 81 square miles in a remote area south of the Missouri River Breaks in eastern Montana’s Garfield County. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Al Nash tells the Great Falls Tribune that one of the fires has jumped the Musselshell River.