Fire Updates in Montana….evacuations ordered!

There are numerous fires across Montana right now.  Several of these fires are very large and threatening homes.  Unfortunately, when Mother Nature sends rain this time of year its usually from a thunderstorm which is a complete Catch 22.  Sadly, two wildland firefighters have also died fighting fires in Montana this year.  For residents near the Lolo Peak fire they were just ordered to evacuate their homes due to a powerful thunderstorm.

I have friends that live between the Sapphire and Meyers complex fires in western Montana.  Watching the posts, photos and videos they are posting makes me incredibly sad for a state that has a huge piece of my heart.  Environmentalists have halted logging in many areas and now those areas are burning!  Beetle infested stands of pines are tinder under a lightning stirke.  I sure hope the rain and snow begins to move in soon to assist everyone fighting the firest!

“Sheriff’s deputies and Forest Service firefighters were knocking on doors as well after the evacuation order went out Sunday morning for residents of the Highway corridor from mile marker 20 at Bear Creek to Fort Fizzle on both sides of the highway. The 160 homes threatened by the fire in the morning had grown to 300 in some level of danger by Sunday afternoon.”

“The evacuation order requested that those evacuating place their names on a list, checking in at Roper’s Lounge on Highway 12. People were flowing in and out of the store all day, speaking with yellow-shirted public information officers as trailers and trucks drove in and out of the roadblock the Sheriff’s Office had placed right by Traveler’s Rest.”