LAME DEER, Mont. (AP) — Wildfires in Montana threatened rural towns and ranchland, as Firefighters and residents scrambled to save hundreds of homes as flames continued to advance on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana.
Since Sunday, the fire has carved its way through some 260 square miles (673 square kilometers) and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of people. The fire listed at 166,053 acres. There is no containment being reported.
Days of swirling winds spread flames in all directions, torching trees and blowing embers that flew across a dry landscape.
The fire had crept within about a mile (3.2 kilometers) of the eastern edge of the evacuated town of Lame Deer, home to about 2,000 people, the tribal headquarters and several subdivisions.
As the fire raged across rugged hills and narrow ravines, tribal member Darlene Small helped her grandson move about 100 head of cattle to a new pasture, only to relocate them twice more as the flames from the Richard Spring fire bore down, she said Thursday. An extreme drought that’s blanketing the West has made matters worse by stunting vegetation untouched by fire.
“They’ve got to have pasture where there’s water. If there’s no water, there’s no good pasture,” Small said. Particularly hard hit were some ranchers already depending on surplus grass after a fire burned them off their normal pasture last year, she said.
Gusts and low humidity were creating extreme fire behavior as flames devoured brush, short grass and timber, fire officials said.
With 40-foot (12-meter) flames visible from parts of Lame Deer, firefighters worked into early Thursday morning to keep the blaze from destroying houses. None were reported lost, but officials continued assessing the damage.
However, the fire has destroyed between 12 and 18 secondary structures.
