New Five Acre Fire in Frog Pond Basin, No Structures Harmed

Another fire has popped-up in western Montana, south east of Missoula.

"We have a small 5 acre fire in the Frog Pond Basin," Leonna Roderick from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest said. "We are calling it the Whetstone Ridge Fire, and it's located about 25 miles south west of Philipsburg. We've got 11 firefighters on scene currently, we've ordered up a couple more hand crews to come up and give them a hand, and we've got a large helicopter doing water drops."

Investigators believe that lightning started the fire, which is burning on a ridge far away from structures at the moment.

"There are several cabins within and near the Frog Pond Basin area," Roderick said. "The closest one to the fire is one mile. I would say, and this is just me with an estimate, within a day or two days they should have a line around it."

Roderick says fire crews are hopeful that moisture from the weather system expected to move through western Montana today and tomorrow will help dampen the blaze.