150 Homes Threatened by Montana Wildfire

A fast-moving wildfire closed the scenic Beartooth Highway to Yellowstone National Park and threatened up to 150 houses Monday, some of them million-dollar homes in the Montana woods.

Elsewhere, a firestorm in an Idaho forest destroyed most of the buildings at a guest ranch, and a second guest ranch was ordered evacuated.

The fire near Red Lodge became the No. 1 firefighting priority in Montana, but ground crews with shovels might not be on the job before today because so many other blazes across the West are demanding their attention.

“Even if we got everything we want, it may not be enough,” Forest Service Ranger Rand Herzberg told exasperated residents. “This is going to be a tough one, folks.”

Les Linn, 76, said he packed up and got out of his house when the fire was about half a mile away.

“We loaded up the back of the pickup,” Linn said. “The thing I made sure I got first were my guns.”

The Willie fire--so named because Willie Nelson was headlining a music festival in Red Lodge--started Sunday when a motorcycle crashed and caught fire a few miles south of town on the Beartooth Highway that leads into the northeastern corner of Yellowstone. The fire quickly grew to 3,000 acres on the west side of the highway, which was closed Sunday.

Many tourists had to find another way out of the park after the closure of the 65-mile route to Red Lodge.

“We’re moving everybody back toward Yellowstone Park, telling them to turn around,” said a spokeswoman for the Montana Highway Patrol.