Fire Emergency Spreads to Montana as the West Burns Past Two Million Acres

The wildfire emergency across the West reached deeper into the Northern Rockies this week. A statewide red flag warning on August 2 brought west winds gusting to 50 miles per hour and humidity in the single digits across western Montana. Several fires grew quickly in those conditions. The Silvertip Fire in Flathead County spread to roughly 4,142 acres with no containment. The Skillet Fire near Olney reached about 1,318 acres, forcing mandatory evacuations along Good Creek Road and the surrounding area. Those acreages are current as of the red flag warning and are expected to climb while the wind and dry air hold.

The wider picture is just as stretched. Oregon has burned roughly 1.7 million acres so far this season, and Washington has passed 500,000. Together the two states account for more than two million burned acres this year. National firefighting crews are being shared across dozens of large fires at once. When resources are spread that thin, the households that do best are the ones who decided in advance what would make them leave.

If you live near an active fire, now is the time to review when to evacuate a wildfire and to keep a packed bug out bag by the door instead of in a closet. For homes that are not yet threatened, the work is defense. Clearing gutters, moving firewood and anything that burns away from the walls, and trimming back brush are the steps behind protecting your property from wildfires. Defensible space gives fire crews a real chance to save a house when they can reach it, and it gives the house a better chance on its own when they cannot.

Montana's fires are still growing and the evacuation orders are still active, so anyone in fire country should treat the red flag warning as a cue to check the plan today. That is not a reason for fear, but a reason to top off the fuel tank and confirm the family meeting point while the skies are still clear where you live.