Montana WildFire Doubles; Evacuation Ordered
Pastor Dale Morgan
Montana WildFire Doubles; Evacuation Ordered*
Thursday September 14, 2006 3:31 AM
LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) - A wildfire in an area peppered with property
owned by celebrities nearly doubled in size Wednesday, prompting
evacuation orders for about 325 homes.
The fire was estimated at 18,845 acres, or about 29 square miles,
information officer Al Nash said. It had been reported at 9,360 acres,
or about 15 square miles, the night before.
``It's not a surprise that the fire has become much more active as the
day heated up and the winds picked up,'' Nash said.
Residents of about 275 homes in Sweet Grass County and 50 homes in Park
County were told to evacuate, officials said.
Former ``NBC Nightly News'' anchor Tom Brokaw and several other
celebrities have homes in the area. Brokaw said in a telephone interview
from New York that his property was under a ``pre-evacuation notice,''
in which residents are cautioned to be ready to evacuate.
``It's not our first fire, but it's probably the closest fire,'' Brokaw
said. ``And it's easily the worst we've been through.''
The fire, started by lightning Aug. 25, is on the West Boulder River
about 30 miles north of Yellowstone National Park.
Elsewhere Wednesday, a 270-square mile fire in Washington crept toward
the Canadian border. Both U.S. and Canadian crews were fighting the
Tripod fire, which was less than a quarter-mile south of the border at
its northern flank. More than 1,400 firefighters were on the scene.
In southern California, firefighters guarded a mobile home park as
erratic winds drove a 27,000-acre, 42-square-mile wildfire in Los Padres
National Forest. They also tried to keep it from jumping Interstate 5.
The blaze was 25 percent contained.