Several wildfires grew last week across Montana. The Ordway fire near Craig grew to 185 acres and required an evacuation order. The Rattlesnake fire near Sieben Flats burned 47 acres and briefly shut down Interstate 15. The Golconda fire near Jefferson City burned several acres before being put out. The Panama Fire by Cardwell burned more than 500 acres over a couple days. The March Fire in Powder River County burned over 2000 acres. The Gallatin Gateway fire burned nearly 600 acres.
Strong wind and warm temperatures helped most of these fires grow quickly. This winter had less snow than normal, but it's not as dry as you'd think. Many places in Montana have had above-average precipitation in March and February, and are close to or above average for the year and for the water year.
Most of these wildfires were human-caused debris burns that were not completely put out. Lewis & Clark County Sheriff has closed debris burning because of this until further notice.
Even though some places had significant snow and moisture days before these fires, they still caught in the dried grasses and were pushed by strong wind. Dead, dry grasses do not absorb much, if any, moisture. Some of these fires caught in ponderosa pine, but these trees are typically very dry this time of year after winter dormancy and have not absorbed much moisture. So until the grasses green up and trees come out of dormancy, fire danger will remain high.
