wildfires

Very dry conditions, gusty winds up to 40 MPH, and the chance of lightning storms have created dangerous fire conditions across all of western Montana on Friday. Any wildfires that start today will be difficult to contain, so Red Flag Warnings have been issued across the western counties.

Wildfire smoke from Canada, and the smoke from fires within Montana dropped the Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Montana by dozens of points on Wednesday. Thursday isn't looking too promising either with Air Quality Alerts and Heat Advisories in effect for large portions of the state.

Montana has been surrounded by raging wildfires all summer and now we have plenty of our own to deal with. One of the most challenging aspects of these wildfires is the particulate filled smoke that they produce. It can stay localized in valleys or continuously blow into the state with the jet stream. How can you stay healthy if you're susceptible to breathing issues?

It's not the worst we've ever seen, but a few more unlucky lightning strikes and Montana's wildfire season could explode. We're currently battling 77 active wildfires and they are for the most part in remote, hard to fight areas, with plenty of timber and fuel to burn.

After a weekend of decent blue skies, towns in western Montana are back to 'Very Unhealthy" air quality index numbers of 200+. The skies are hazy and you can taste the smoke in the air.

The Garceau Fire that has been burning on the Flathead Reservation since August 16 is now in the mop-up stage.

“With the ground applied units our employees will go around and put an application by the ground that can be a lot more accurate,” he said.

The Elmo Fire burning near the west shore of Flathead Lake is now almost two-thirds contained.

Our news team spoke to Fire Information Officer Kelli Roemer on Thursday for the latest update on the human-caused fire.

The Weasel Fire is burning in steep, heavily timbered terrain near the U.S. Canadian Border in the Rexford-Fortine Ranger District.