Firefighters were busy early Thursday Morning after 911 calls came in, reporting that there were fires on both sides of the highway south of Lolo. The calls came in around 12:30 when it was still dark. Missoula Rural Fire Department Deputy Chief Chris Newman explains.

"When the first unit arrived they found two different fires on the west side and were unable to find any fires on the east side of the highway," said Newman. "Once they got there, crews made an aggressive attack on the fire and were able to keep one of the fires to right around three acres and the other one to right around a quarter acre."

The fires were close to a number of structures.

"The initial call came in that there were structures threatened and there were definitely a lot of out buildings and some homes in the area, but crews with their aggressive attack were able to knock it down," Newman said. "One of the fires got pretty close to a couple buildings, but they were able to stop it in time before there was any damage."

Newman says that a storm went through the area near the time the fires reported and investigators believe the fires were lightning caused.

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