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Cause of Massive Glacier Park Fire Still Unknown

Reynolds Creek Fire scorched 4,850 acres on the east side of park

By Justin Franz
The Reynolds Creek Fire burns in the St. Mary region of Glacier National Park on July 30, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Three months after a massive wildfire scorched nearly 5,000 acres on the east side of Glacier National Park, it remains unknown what sparked the fire.

Officials with the National Park Service said in August that initial evidence suggested the Reynolds Creek Fire near St. Mary was human caused.

The fire started on July 21 near the Reynolds Creek Campground and blew up to more than 2,000 acres in a matter of hours, forcing the evacuation of various sites on the east side. The fire forced the closure of the Going-to-the-Sun Road for nearly three weeks. No one was injured in the fire, but it did destroy an historic cabin.

The fire was one of two massive blazes that combined to burn more than 20,000 acres in Glacier Park this summer. The Thompson Fire scorched 18,847 acres north of Nyack in the southern part of the park.