A late-season wildfire that came amid unseasonably warm weather and was pushed by strong winds ripped through a tiny central Montana farming town overnight, burning 24 houses and four grain elevators that had stood for more than a century.
Officials were assessing the damage in Denton on Thursday morning while crews continued to fight the fire.
“Rural fire agencies are continuing to work to prevent any further spread or damage,” the Fergus county sheriff’s office posted on Facebook on Thursday morning. “This work will continue for several more days.”
About 300 residents of the town were evacuated early on Wednesday afternoon when a fire that had started several miles away the night before pushed across the drought-stricken agricultural land.
“Unfortunately we lost numerous houses on the Southside of town, but thankfully no one was hurt!” the sheriff’s office posted Wednesday night.
The power outage due to the downed power lines shut off water pumps, leaving the town without water, officials said.
Other fires have been burning in Montana in recent days as gusty winds fanned the flames amid drought and unseasonably warm temperatures.
Areas of Montana east of the Continental Divide have had down-sloping west winds for about a week, the National Weather Service said. With such winds, the air warms and wind speeds increase as the air moves down the slope of the Rocky Mountains, said Cody Moldan, a meteorologist in Great Falls.
Central Montana is among several areas of the state that are experiencing exceptional drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.
Several other fires burned in Montana on Wednesday as gusty winds fanned the flames. A fire south of the city of Great Falls burned 11 houses and seven garages along with sheds and vehicles. About 65 people were evacuated, Cascade county officials said.
Two grass fires burned near Browning on Wednesday where there were also power outages because the wind was knocking trees into power lines, officials said.
In decades past, fire season in the mountainous west wrapped up in the months before the winter storms, typically concluding its siege by August or September. But the climate crisis has delivered hotter days and drier landscapes, with the risks extending deeper into the year. Record high temperatures in the upper 60s and into the 70s were reported around Montana on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a historic drought and recent heatwaves tied to the climate crisis have made wildfires harder and more dangerous to fight. Scientists say the the region has grown much warmer and drier in the past 30 years, which will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
Thursday was expected to be the last really warm, windy day, Moldan said. A weak cold front is forecast to move into northern Montana on Friday with a stronger cold front on Saturday afternoon that will bring winds, but also some precipitation, he said.
