September Starts With Dangerous Fire, and Smoke in Montana

It's a warm and smoky start to the month of September, as local, and regional fires are making breathing difficult, and continuing community concerns with evacuations.

Most of Western Montana remains under an air quality alert through Tuesday afternoon, because of the combination of smoke and increased fire activity.

Unfortunately, the forecast only offers short-term relief.

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The air quality alert from the National Weather Service includes Ravalli, Missoula, Mineral, Lake, Sanders, Granite, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, and Silver Bow counties. Some areas, especially the Bitterroot, have been experiencing periods of "unhealthy" air quality, which means people should limit their time outdoors if possible, especially if they have respiratory problems.

Low pressure moving into the region should bring wind that would help clear some of the smoke, but at the same time, it also increases fire activity.

Bitterroot fires are very active

Both the Sharrott Fire near Stevensville and the Johnson Fire near Sula have been growing. The Johnson Fire was especially active, growing to over 3700 acres by Monday night. The fire, which is burning in the mountains above the East Fork, started from a passing lightning storm on July 25th but has remained fairly stable at just a few hundred acres until conditions turned hot and windy again last week.

The Sharrott Creek Fire grew to 2400 acres, but firefighters were able to get a start on containment, hitting the 3-percent mark by Monday evening.

No structures have been lost in either fire.

READ MORE: Grants Awarded to Help with Local Smoke

What are the latest Bitterroot fire evacuations?

For the Johnson Fire, Ravalli County Sheriff Steven Holton said evacuation warnings for the Frog Pond Basin area had been upgraded to evacuation orders. Evacuation orders for the Little East Fork Road are still in effect, and residents are being asked to download the Sheriff's app for updates.

The Skalkaho Road also sees some temporary closures because of the fire activity.

On the Sharrott Fire, evacuation orders remain in place for Marmot Lane, St. Mary's Overlook Road and west of St. Mary's Road. Residents on North Kootenai Road and west of Wankantanka Way, Sharrott Hill Loop, Salish Trail, and St. Mary's Road and north of Indian Prairie Loop remain on evacuation warnings.