The western side of the state escaped any new forest fire activity despite temperatures in the high 90s Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, about 30,000 acres of existing fires in Idaho and Montana have produced enough haze to trigger health warnings.
Butte was listed in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category for air quality Monday on the state Department of Environmental Quality's fire smoke advisory. Missoula, Kalispell, Hamilton, Helena and Bozeman were all in the “moderate” category, although Hamilton briefly joined Butte on Sunday night as a dense plume moved through the Bitterroot Valley.
Coefield said high temperatures in the afternoons could keep much of the smoke high in the atmosphere, but cooler drafts in the evening can settle it back into valley bottoms. Satellite photos show the smoke plume rotating atop a high-pressure ridge that's centered over Montana.
In area fire activity:
Bitterroot National Forest: “All is quiet on the eastern front of the Bitterroot Mountains,” Forest spokeswoman Nan Christianson said Monday afternoon. Most of the activity in that area involves 10 uncontested wildland-use fires in the wilderness portions of the forest. The largest is the Harrington Ridge in the West Fork Ranger district, now at 200 acres. Forest Service crews are taking steps to protect the Swet Cabin in the area, but otherwise are letting the fire burn. The Harrington Mountain fire, a separate blaze, is now about 100 acres. Firefighters have controlled the Michael fire in the Darby Ranger District, which is considered fully contained at about 99 acres.
Beavertail-Deerlodge National Forest: Six smokejumpers attacked a
3/4-acre blaze on a ridgetop west of Philipsburg on Sunday afternoon. A large haystack on the Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site north of Deer Lodge caught fire Sunday, burning about 120 hay bales and ruining the rest of the stack. Deer Lodge volunteer firefighters extinguished that one before it could damage other parts of the ranch. The Pattengail fire south of Wise River grew by 330 acres Sunday to 3,712 acres.
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