Fire Watch

Fire season to end at midnight tonight

Posted: Oct 17, 2012 11:00 AM by Q2 News

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, Montana's fire season will officially end.

Say goodbye to fire restrictions on state land and private classified forest lands.

This comes with a proclamation signed by Forestry Division Administrator Bob Harrington and Mary Sexton, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

However, fire restrictions will still exist in some areas of the state, and local government officials may choose to keep those in place a while longer.

"Just because our official fire season has ended doesn't mean the wildfire risk is completely gone," Sexton said. "While some areas of Montana have received significant rainfall, other parts of the state continue to be dry and some are still in moderate to high fire danger."

Sexton said the public is encouraged to continue to comply with local fire restrictions, taking extreme caution with off-road vehicle use, field use of cutting torches or welding equipment, camp fires, burning (if permitted) or any other activities that could potentially start a wildfire. Please contact the local fire department or DNRC office with questions.

Montana's 2012 fire season was extremely active, with more than one million acres burned. Fire activity began in earnest in mid-June and persisted late into September.