Montana’s fire season picked up last week, with 48 new fires started over the last seven days. More than 48,060 acres have burned since the start of this year, and acres burned since July 21 represent 65% of that total.

In late July, state fire officials said that moisture-heavy storms, low temperatures and high overnight humidity had kept the state well below the number of acres that had burned by that point in 2024, but that they expected a change in the weather to increase fire activity in August.

In a Monday fire briefing provided to Gov. Greg Gianforte, officials wrote that “fire activity has increased in Montana as fuels are dry and windy conditions persist.”

That has all led to the spike in fire starts, with lightning-caused fires leading to evacuation warnings in recent days for

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