Montana Governor Greg Gianforte recently announced the launch of a statewide fire dashboard created to keep residents and visitors up to date on the ever-changing wildfires across the state.
Following suit with other agencies, Madison County Commissioners approved a Stage 2 burn ban for the county, effective as of July 27, 2021.
The ban includes most the items listed below, as well as a ban on tiki torches, and a ban from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. on construction site activities, not including utility and emergency construction.
Something seemed weird. The Western Meadowlark perched atop a small aspen outside the window for a long time, looking around and clucking. Most Meadowlarks are skittish, keeping their distance from people and dogs. This one wasn’t. And the clucking noise sounded odd.
The haze of wildfire smoke has officially descended upon Madison County. While a number of blazes are to blame for the smokey smog, the largest contributor could be the Goose Fire. It’s burning in the Hidden, Cliff and Wade Lakes area in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, 32 miles south-southeast of Ennis near Hoodoo Pass.
Lightning strikes courtesy of a storm that blew in Wednesday evening in the Madison Valley started three small fires in the Madison and Gravelly Ranges.
Cooler temps, higher humidity and – gasp – even a bit of rainfall on Father’s Day were a boon for teams fighting wildfires in Montana. The reprieve was likely a short one though, as another hot, dry weather pattern is set to return this week.
It’s official – wildfire season is upon us with more hot, dry weather in the forecast.
Looking at the extremes, in southeast Montana the Northern Rockies Coordination Center predicted the stuff wildfires are made of: temps on June 15 of up to 109 degrees accompanied by with single-digit relative humidity and 40 mph wind gusts.
Sometimes, size does matter. For the Sheridan Fire Department, that boils down to the size of its station: the department’s firefighting equipment can barely fit inside the aging building. Just backing into the station is a feat in and of itself. It’s gotten to the point that something needs to be done about the tight quarters.
Representatives from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), the Madison Ranger District and Madison County Emergency Management attended the Madison County Board of Commissioners’ meeting on May 11 to update the commissioners on the upcoming fire season.
The Antelope wildfire burning north of Harrison grew to nearly 2,000 acres in a day.
65 N. MT Hwy 287
Ennis, MT 59729
406-682-7755
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