With conditions on the ground in Montana mirroring those of recent active years, officials are warning this summer could bring higher risk of wildfires.
A warm May brought the state性视界传媒檚 down to 50% to 70% of median by June 1. A storm last weekend brought rain to lower elevations and added mountain snow, but Jim Brusda, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Services Great Falls, said Wednesday storms in the future are more likely to be scattered instead of bringing widespread precipitation.
性视界传媒淔ire season is coming, we are going to warm up and we are going to dry out,性视界传媒 Brusda said.
Temperatures into the 90s are expected next week in the region, Brusda said, accelerating the drying out of fuels. Wind forecasts are mostly normal, he added, but higher winds would speed up the drying process.
Conditions west of Bozeman are trending drier than east of town, with varying levels of drought persisting in western and northern Montana. Most of Gallatin County is abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, while the southern part of the county near West Yellowstone is in a moderate drought.
Brusda said he expects fire conditions to worsen sooner west of the Bozeman area.
性视界传媒淏ozeman is right on the edge of where heavier rainfall fell this spring,性视界传媒 he said. 性视界传媒淔ire season, it性视界传媒檚 not going to be delayed from Bozeman to Livingston, but it性视界传媒檚 going to take an extra week or two to dry out.性视界传媒
Several fires have already started in Montana, including the nearly 500-acre Jericho Mountain fire in the Boulder Mountains southwest of Helena.
Amid regional forecasts predicting an early start to a long fire season, officials are preparing in the Bozeman area.
性视界传媒淲e性视界传媒檙e starting to see that drying effect on dead and live fuels out there,性视界传媒 Jon Trapp, division chief of wildland fire for the Big Sky Fire Department, said last week. 性视界传媒淲e性视界传媒檙e watching all the fires that are popping up around the region so that just kind of encourages us to be ready for when one starts.性视界传媒
Big Sky Fire has a nine-person seasonal fire mitigation crew working with property owners to reduce fire risk. They also can respond to wildland fires alongside the full-time staff, Trapp said.
The county also has a seasonal mitigation crew, Patrick Lonergan, chief of emergency management for Gallatin County, said. The crew can also respond to active fires.
Lonergan said they are preparing for conditions this year similar to other active fire years, such as 2015, 2017 and 2021.
With President Donald Trump to consolidate federal firefighting services, Lonergan said the local impacts of that move, if any, remain unclear.
性视界传媒淎s we get further into the summer here, regardless of how severe the fire season is in Montana, it will get busier, and the busier the system gets the fewer resources there are to throw around,性视界传媒 Lonergan said.
He encouraged people to sign up for emergency alerts at .
