Montana’s fire season will officially end at midnight tonight.

Spokeswoman Paula Rosenthal Short says DNRC Director Mary Sexton and Forestry Division Administrator Bob Harrington have signed the proclamation effectively ending Montana’s wildfire season and rescinding fire restrictions for state and private classified forest lands across the state.

 

However, fire restrictions still exist in some areas of the state, and local government officials may choose to keep those in place a while longer. “Just because our official fire season has ended doesn’t mean the wildfire risk is completely gone,” said DNRC Director Mary Sexton. “While some areas of Montana have received significant rainfall, other parts of the state continue to be dry and some are still in moderate to high fire danger.”

Sexton said the public is encouraged to continue to comply with local fire restrictions, taking extreme caution with off-road vehicle use, field use of cutting torches or welding equipment, camp fires, burning (if permitted) or any other activities that could potentially start a wildfire. Please contact the local fire department or DNRC office with questions.

Montana’s 2012 fire season was extremely active, with more than one million acres burned. Fire activity began in earnest in mid-June and persisted late into September.

DNRC Spokeswoman Paula Short

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