Event
wildfire season
The 2017 Montana wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “2017 Montana wildfires”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The 2017 Montana wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017.
The 2017 fire season in Montana was exacerbated by drought conditions and as of September 7, 2017, there were 21 large, active fires that had consumed over 438,000 acres (177,000 ha). By September 20, after rain and snow had significantly slowed most fire growth, the overall burned acreage in Montana was estimated at 1,295,959 acres (524,456 ha).
Two fires alone burned over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) each. The first was the Lodgepole Complex Fire in eastern Montana, which started on July 19 and burned over 270,000 acres (110,000 ha) before it was declared 93% contained two weeks later. The second was the Rice Ridge Fire, which was identified as the nation's top wildfire priority, after it rapidly expanded from about 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) to over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) on September 3, 2017. Approximately 48 fires were burning as of September 12, 2017, though some were under 1,000 acres (400 ha). The fire season began a month earlier than usual and months of June through August were the hottest and driest on record for Montana. On July 29, Montana had 11.87 percent of its total land listed as in exceptional drought, the largest percentage in the nation. In mid September, the eastern portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park was closed by ice and snow in the Rockies, while simultaneously the western portion was closed due to wildfires.
Federal disaster assistance was requested by Governor Steve Bullock and FEMA granted funds for the Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana, Alice Creek Fire near Lincoln, Montana, West Fork Fire near Libby, Montana, Highway 200 Complex in Sanders County, Montana and the Moose Peak Fire. Over $280 million had been spent on firefighting by early August. A number of areas were subjected to evacuation orders, including most of the town of Seeley Lake. By September 18, 2017, rain and snow had significantly slowed most fires, except for parts of far northwestern Montana, near Libby, where the West Fork Fire required some evacuation orders to remain in effect.
Major fires of 2017 that consumed over 1,000 acres (400 ha) include the following (as of September 13, 2017):
Over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha)
Over 50,000 acres (20,000 ha)
Over 20,000 acres (8,100 ha)
Over 10,000 acres (4,000 ha)
Over 1,000 acres (400 ha)
Text from the Wikipedia article “2017 Montana wildfires”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.