HELENA (AP)
Many Montanans evacuated because of the state’s wildfires will be allowed to go home today in the wake of continued cool weather and higher humidities that have quieted most blazes, fire managers said. All evacuation orders on the WH complex south of Livingston were to be lifted as of 6 a.m. today, affecting about 50 homes, said Kimberly Nelson, f ire information officer. The 28,550-acre complex of two fires was 50 percent contained Thursday and has been kept in check by low temperatures and high relative humidities in recent days. The blazes threatened more than 500 structures at one point, but none had been destroyed. “The weather is just about perfect for what we’re doing,” Bobby Kitchens, a spokesman for the fire management team, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. “It’s going to get gradually a little warmer and a little drier and that’s what we need to test it.” Warmer, drier weather is expected this weekend, but by that time “the fires won’t be a problem. We’ll have them in hand by then,” he said. Northwest of Missoula, residents of 120 homes evacuated because of the Black Cat fire were allowed to return Tuesday night, and the rest were allowed back Wednesday morning. The blaze remained at 11,515 acres and was 35 percent contained Thursday evening, up from 12 percent earlier in the week. The fire has destroyed three mobile homes since it was sparked by lightning Aug. 14. A series of burnouts were planned over the next few days to strengthen the fire line. Residents of about 150 homes in the Placid Lake area near the town of Seeley Lake were allowed to return Wednesday, as crews continued to gain ground on the 34,810-acre Jocko Lakes fire, which has destroyed one home and was 33 percent contained. Evacuations remained in effect for only a handful of fires Thursday, including the state’s largest, the Chippy Creek fire 20 miles north of Plains. That blaze has burned 96,154 acres, or 150 square miles, since July 31 and was 35 percent contained. It destroyed a vacant house on the Flathead Indian Reservation and a U.S. Geological Survey hydrological gauging station during a blowup Sunday evening, and was threatening other structures. Residents in the Benchmark, Stoner and Gibson Reservoir areas of north-central Montana were still displaced because of the Ahorn fire 30 miles west of Augusta. That fire was sparked by lightning July 11, and has burned 51,000 acres, or nearly 80 square miles. It was 10 percent contained.
