USFS ignites 7,000 acres of Montana wilderness in prescribed burn

Fire managers with Lewis and Clark National Forest ignited 7,000 acres in the Scapegoat Wilderness on Saturday, with the flames replacing entire stands in some areas and kicking up huge plumes of smoke that could be seen for miles. Wendy Maples, acting ranger of the Rocky Mountain Ranger District, said the burn met the objective, which was reducing fuels that could carry a wilderness fire onto nonwilderness property southwest of Augusta. Originally, fire managers were planning to ignite 11,000 acres in the South Fork Sun River Prescribed Fire. Previous burns, part of the same project, occurred in 2003 and 2009. But a Red Flag warning Sunday calling for high temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds prompted fire managers to suspend ignition operations on the remaining 4,000 acres...more