Wildfire at Niarada races to 5,000 acres
The Niarada Fire burns west of Elmo on Sunday, July 30, 2023. (Brian Crandell photo)
A wildfire west of Elmo raced across Montana 28 on Sunday, leaving a scorched swath of 5,000 acres in its wake.
The Niarada Fire was fanned to the northeast by gusty winds Sunday evening that reach 35 mph. Its perimeter on Monday morning extended from south of the highway, across Niarada Lane to Browns Meadow Road to the north. The fire’s west flank hugs the Flathead and Sanders county line.
The fast-moving fire caused the closure of Montana 28 on Sunday afternoon. The highway remained closed Monday between mile markers 16.3 and 46.72.
Smokejumpers, ground crews and equipment were working to control the fire with air support, according to a Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire update Monday morning.
The Niarada Fire was one of many to crop up following a dry lightning storm on Saturday.
The Middle Ridge Fire west of Sloan’s Bridge and Ronan was sized at 7,000 acres on Monday.
The Communication Butte Fire had burned 400 acres north of Dixon in steep terrain along the Moiese Valley. That fire caused the closure of the Bison Range on Sunday.
The Big Knife Fire east of Arlee blew up to 3,000 acres on Sunday. Fire crews were focused on securing control lines on the west flank near homes. Canal Road from Mountain Home Road to the Jocko Canyon Road remained closed.
A complex incident management team was ordered to assume command of the fire on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Colt Fire burning north of Seeley Lake continued to draw a massive firefighting response over the weekend.
Nearly 590 firefighters were assigned to the incident that had burned more than 6,100 acres on the Lolo and Flathead national forests as of Monday morning.
Firefighting costs on the Colt Fire topped $11 million, as of Sunday.
Conditions are expected to improve beginning Tuesday as monsoonal moisture begins to affect the region.
“These storms have a chance to be pretty wet for southern Montana,” meteorologist Dan Borsum said in the Northern Rockies Coordination Center weather briefing Monday.
The 10-day outlook shows below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation chances for Western Montana.
“We do expect improving conditions for multiple days on end," Borsum said of Northwest Montana.