Hill County and City of Havre to implement fire restrictions Friday

Hill County will move into Stage 1 fire restrictions Friday after seeing five fires in the past week.

During a regional fire call this morning Hill County Commissioner Jake Strissel said all five fires were human caused and affected 25 acres of land since the fire call last week, so the county will be implementing Stage 1 fire restrictions.

These restrictions prohibit building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire unless noted in the exemptions below or as designated in the specific closure order.

Smoking is allowed within enclosed vehicles or buildings, developed recreation sites or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.

Exemptions to these restrictions include people with a written permit that specifically authorizes the otherwise prohibited act, and people using a device solely fueled by liquid petroleum or LPG fuels that can be turned on and off.

Such devices can only be used in an area that is barren or cleared of all overhead and surrounding flammable materials within three feet of the device.

People conducting activities in those designated areas where the activity is specifically authorized by written posted notice are also exempt, as are federal, state, or local officers or members of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of an official duty.

Hill County implemented a burn ban last week, but Stage 1 fire restrictions are more strict.

Tuesday morning after the fire call Havre Fire Chief Nathan Courtnage sent out a release that said the city would also be entering Stage 1 fire restrictions due to the increased dry and hot conditions.

These restrictions will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, the release said.

Bureau of Land Management Havre said in today’s call they would follow suit with the county as did Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 6.

Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation was not on the call and it is unknown if they will implement similar restrictions.

While fire conditions in the region seem likely to improve somewhat later this week, this area of Montana is seeing more and more fires and fire restrictions as conditions remain dry and warm.

On the fire call, National Weather Service reported that while conditions will be hot and dry today, especially in central Montana from Fergus to Blaine counties, temperatures should go back to normal Thursday and drop further going into the weekend and into early next week.

The Weather Service reported that this improvement of conditions will be most dramatic further south so the northern part of the state may not see the same level of improvement.

As for fire in the rest of the region, Blaine County didn’t see any fires, Fort Belknap Indian Community saw two fires that burned less than an acre each, and Chouteau County was not on the call.

Daniels County saw one equipment fire burn five acres, Valley County saw one fire burn 50 acres and Phillips County saw one fire burn 60 acres.

Wheatland County, which is in Stage 1 fire restrictions, saw a 30-acre machinery-caused fire as well as another fire that burned less than three acres.

Judith Basin County, which has a burn ban in place, saw three fires, one human-caused, one lightning caused, and one that is still being fought.

Golden Valley County also has a burn ban but hasn’t seen any fires this week.

During the call, counties and agencies were reminded to be very careful with these dry soil conditions and watch out for fires that can rekindle, like one in Sheridan County this week.