Campfire Restrictions are Eased in Ravalli County

A cold front passed through Western Montana this past weekend, and Mark Lewis of the Bitterroot National Forest said that much of the forest received about 3/10 of inch of moisture, with the south end of the valley getting about an inch.

Because of that, and weather forecasts for near normal precipitation, Lewis said the Bitterroot National Forest is back into "moderate" fire danger and will be dropping the Stage One fire restrictions, which severely limit campfires on the forest.

Following Lewis's report to the Ravalli County Commissioners Tuesday morning, the commission decided to also drop its campfire Stage One restrictions in the county as of 12 Noon September 6. There is still a restriction against open burning.

The Roaring Lion fire continues to be monitored, and smoke might be seen from the interior of the fire in the Ward bowl area of Ward Mountain in the coming weeks. Fire crews are working on fire line rehabilitation and suppression work is still happening. The trail and road closures are still in effect in the immediate vicinity of the fire.

As of Sunday, September 5, the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office has lifted all evacuation warnings from the area. There are still some road closures, however. The residential area on Roaring Lion Road west of Springhill Road is only open to local traffic, but Undersheriff Steve Holton said evacuations are unlikely.