HELENA — Massive wildfires burning in eastern Montana have destroyed at least a dozen homes and led ranchers to cut escape routes in fences for cattle as the powerful blazes jump rivers, roads and bulldozer-cleared fire breaks.
The 300 firefighters assigned to the four fires burning Monday in Garfield and Petroleum counties have been stymied by shifting winds and near triple-digit temperatures as they battle the blazes that have burned a combined 353 square miles (914 kilometers) since Wednesday.
The fires were raging through private farmland with scattered homes, along with a mix of rolling open land used for grazing and timber-choked river bottoms.
The destroyed homes were just discovered recently within the area ravaged by the largest blaze between the towns of Jordan and Winnett, east of the Musselshell River.
About 50 homes in the area are under evacuation orders.
The outlook didn’t look any better, with wind gusts and low humidity expected to push the fires south. The forecast also calls for dry thunderstorms packing lightning that could ignite additional fires across the parched state.
A heat-related injury caused a firefighter to be pulled from the line, fire information officer Tim Engrav said.
Livestock have likely died in the fires, but responders have not had a chance to make a tally. Ranchers were cutting fences to let their cattle out as the fire line spread toward their land.
“There’s been a lot of scattering like that,” Engrav said. “We know there is probably going to be some losses.”
The fire complex is the largest of the blazes that are scorching Montana in the middle of a heatwave and drought conditions. There were at least two dozen significant wildfires burning across the state, according to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center.
Gov. Steve Bullock declared a fire emergency for the entire state on Sunday. The declaration will allow the state to mobilize additional resources and the National Guard to help fight the fires.