Fire Danger to Rise This Holiday Weekend

Fourth of July Weekend is just around the corner and so is fire season. Unlike last year when high fire danger started early, Public Information Officer Chris Johnson of the Missoula County Fire Protection Association says we are still in Moderate Fire Danger this week.

“There’s not much change between last week and this week,” Johnson said. “Last week we did have a little bit of precipitation come through the county so we’re still holding on to Moderate Fire Danger. This week we’ll be in temperatures in the high 80’s to low 90’s so it’s really likely that by next week we’ be at High Fire Danger.”

Johnson said one added fire restriction will be going into place this week.

“One thing that we are going to change this week is our outdoor burning in Missoula County that we do by permit here is going to close midnight Thursday June 30^th,” Johnson said. “So folks that are going to be burning this week need to make sure their piles are extinguished by that time. By Thursday July 1st outdoor burning by permit will be closed officially for fire season.”

Fireworks will still be legal on most private property outside of the city of Missoula, but prohibited on state and federal lands this weekend. Johnson says the fire danger level will likely jump to High by the 4^th of July.