HELENA — Extreme fire conditions have prompted Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to declare a statewide emergency.
The Democratic governor signed the emergency declaration on Wednesday. It allows him to authorize the use of state resources and the Montana National Guard to protect life, health and property.
Schweitzer says in a statement that every precaution must be taken because there is no definitive end in sight for the above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation. He says the fire season could last through the end of September or later.
Fires were burning across the state on Wednesday, fueled by red-flag conditions. Evacuations were ordered in parts of Jefferson, Stillwater and Carbon counties as wildfires threatened homes in those areas.
Crews dug in Wednesday against another round of Montana wildfires as evacuations were ordered ahead of blazes near Butte and Roscoe that authorities said threatened at least 130 houses.
Searing heat set in across much of the drought-parched state, and gusting winds pushed flames through tinder-dry stands of timber and grasslands.
Eight large fires were burning on more than 73 square miles Wednesday, and more than 1,300 square miles already have burned in Montana this summer. Most of that destruction has been in the rain-starved eastern half of the state. Compounding residents’ woes are plumes of smoke pouring into mountain valleys from local fires and blazes in neighboring Idaho.
The air quality has deteriorated most significantly in Hamilton, where it was listed as unhealthy by state officials. In Butte, Helena, Great Falls and Bozeman, officials downgraded the air quality to unhealthy for sensitive groups.
About 10 miles south of Butte, the 19 Mile Fire torched at least two homes and two outbuildings after growing to several square miles. Officials said the exact size was hard to determine because of all the smoke.
Residents of the Whiskey Gulch and Friends Road area were told to evacuate Wednesday, after people living on Upper and Lower Radar Creek and Toll Mountain roads were advised to leave Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the fire, Mariah Leuschen with the U.S. Forest Service, said the evacuations covered roughly 150 people living in about 80 homes.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency put the figure higher — 275 people living in 103 homes, with another 100 to 110 houses put on pre-evacuation notice. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
State officials sought and received federal help to pay for the effort against the fire. That authorizes FEMA to pay 75 percent of the state’s firefighting costs on the blaze, but does not provide assistance to individual homes or business owners.
The Red Cross opened a shelter in Whitehall for evacuees.
Leona Rodreick of the Forest Service said the fire was moving north, and authorities hoped to prevent it from crossing Interstate 90.
With winds up to 40 mph forecast, firefighters were urged to take extra precautions to prevent being caught by fast-moving flames, Rodreick said.
Elsewhere, sheriff’s offices in Stillwater and Carbon counties said an evacuation order was in effect for homeowners along Getaway Trail Road in a rural area near the county line threatened by the 1,000-acre Rosebud Fire.
There are about 25 permanent and summer residences on the road, county officials said. Fire officials previously said about 50 houses were threatened.
Since it was sparked Tuesday by an unknown cause, that fire has quickly spread through grass and timber along the Beartooth Mountains’ northeastern front.
New fires also broke out Tuesday southeast of Winnett, where the Skinner Fire was burning on about 5 square miles, and south of Bozeman, where the Millie Fire was burning on 500 acres in Gallatin National Forest.
All four new fires were reported at zero containment early Wednesday, meaning the blazes were growing largely unimpeded.
The 63-square-mile Delphia Fire, which had threatened homes and prompted evacuations in Musselshell County earlier this week, was 75 percent contained.
Because of continued fire danger, officials said campfires will be banned and smoking will be prohibited except within an enclosed vehicle or building in all or portions of 10 western Montana counties after midnight Thursday.
The governor’s emergency declaration allows him to authorize the use of state resources and the Montana National Guard to protect life, health and property.
Schweitzer said in a statement that every precaution must be taken because there is no definitive end in sight for the above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation. He said the fire season could last through the end of September or later.