A sleeper lightning strike ignites a blaze near Deer Lodge. After a week of hot, dry afternoons a fire has rekindled just ten miles north of Anaconda. Sonya Shadow of the Dillon Interagency Dispatch Center tells The NewsChannel the fire, which started just after 6:00 PM on Sunday has burned nearly 300 acres of heavy beetle-killed timber.
Both the Bielenburg and Racetrack Campgrounds, west of Deer Lodge, have been shut down. Law enforcement officers are standing by if evacuations are deemed necessary.
Shadow tells The NewsChannel that if the fire continues to burn down the drainage, the direction it is currently headed, it has the potential to burn another 500 acres. But if the fire changes course and heads up drainage, there is the possibility of it burning nearly 30-thousand more acres.
The Miller Creek fire burning just southeast of Missoula on Miller Peak is contained. Crews worked on the half-acre blaze through the night and teams are still patrolling the area due to a threat of gusty winds. Despite what seems to be a light fire season, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has been called to over 130 fires statewide. Fire Officials say quick response to the fires has helped crews to contain the spread.
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