Blaze Spreads to 20,000 Acres : Dozens Flee as Wind Fans Montana Fire

Shifting wind abruptly fanned a week-old fire in the mountains on the outskirts of Helena, quadrupling the blaze to 20,000 acres, burning at least five homes and forcing dozens of residents to flee, authorities said Thursday.

“When I saw that wall of flame, all I wanted to do was get out,” said Carol Williams, one of at least 55 people ordered out of their homes Wednesday night in a mountain area 15 miles south of Helena.

Authorities had warned an additional 400 to 500 people in the nearby Saddle Mountain subdivision that they might have to evacuate. But Thursday’s winds turned the flames away from the area, said Art Howell of the Interagency Fire Dispatch Center.

Some Structures Saved

Officials said two houses and three to five summer cabins were destroyed by early Thursday, but firefighters managed to save at least eight other structures.

The Warm Springs blaze began when a four-wheel-drive vehicle caught fire Aug. 9. Wind changed the fire’s direction Wednesday from the east to the north, and flames quickly burned a 3-mile-wide swath, fire officials said.

The fire grew to 17,000 acres by Thursday morning, up from about 5,000 acres the day before. By late Thursday, it was estimated at 20,000 acres. Officials had no estimate of when it might be contained.

2,000 Firefighters

Nearly 2,000 firefighters from at least 15 states were battling the blaze, said Bob Lawrence, a fire foreman in the State Lands Department. Firefighting costs had reached an estimated $1.5 million.

In Wyoming, fires continued in Yellowstone National Park. Officials said most areas of the park were open Thursday, but fallen trees from the 69,000-acre North Fork fire forced them to once again put that area off limits. More than 272,000 acres of the nation’s oldest park have burned.