Lightning forecast worrisome

The Daily Inter Lake

Fire bosses across Northwest Montana will be on their toes over the next few days, with lightning in the weather forecast.

The National Weather Service was forecasting isolated thunderstorms with rain for the Kalispell area Thursday night, with a chance of more lightning with rain today through Saturday. Clearing skies are expected by Sunday.

Lightning strikes can cause holdover forest fires for days, if not weeks, after a storm.

The Kalispell area and much of Northwestern Montana is under a red flag warning for fire danger.

Local fire departments and state and federal fire officials have already been busy with a recent rash of human-caused fires. But so far, initial attack on all fire starts has been highly successful.