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A wildfire has burned about 450 acres near Molt

Posted at 12:48 PM, Aug 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-13 11:31:11-04

Late Thursday night a fire erupted near Molt, and on Friday the firefighting effort continued, as 15 agencies pulled together to stop the progression of the fire.

Officials believe the fire was sparked by a dry lightning strike.

Interim DES Coordinator Kent O’Donnell says that the multi-agency response has been tremendous, and that he has been impressed at the effectiveness of the group effort.

Right now the roughly 450-acre fire is about 50% contained, according to O’Donnell.

There are 18 engines on scene, being aided by two helicopters.

The air support was brought in to continue the fight, as the flames headed into rough terrain where engines had trouble following.

Even with the air support, O"Donnell says that the bulk of the work is being done by hand crews and that a fire line has been established along the west side of the fire, which was an area of concern last night.

O’Donnell says that with the calm conditions on Friday morning he was optimistic about making progress with further containment, but that they are wary of the afternoon forecast, which calls for storms producing more dry lightning strikes and erratic wind gusts.

Much of the state is under red flag warnings for severe fire weather concerns and the county DES tells us that they expect widespread fire restrictions to be issued in the coming days.

Molt is in Stillwater County, about 25 miles northwest of Billings.

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