Western Montana’s relatively wildfire-free summer so far appears to be going up in smoke.
On Thursday morning, the Montana DNRC’s wildfire tracker reported 86 new wildfire starts over the past week as hot and dry days stack up and prime forestlands for ignition.
That includes the Knowles Fire along and to the north of Highway 200 and the Flathead River roughly six miles east of the town of Paradise, about an hour’s drive from Missoula in Sanders County. An infrared flyover Wednesday evening put it at 1,812 acres, according to a Thursday morning update, up from 745 acres the day before. It’s burning in steep terrain adjacent to the burn scars left behind two years ago by the 17,000-acre River Road East Fire, which destroyed 50-plus structures including several homes.
The following photos were taken on Tuesday before the Knowles Fire more than doubled in size.
