2017 Montana wildfires

The 2017 Montana wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017.

Overview
The 2017 fire season in Montana was exacerbated by drought conditions and, there were 21 large, active fires that had consumed over 438000 acre. By September 20, after rain and snow had significantly slowed most fire growth, the overall burned acreage in Montana was estimated at 1295959 acre.

Two fires alone burned over 100000 acre each. The first was the Lodgepole Complex Fire in eastern Montana, which started on July 19 and burned over 270000 acre before it was declared 93% contained two weeks later. The second was the Rice Ridge Fire, which was identified as the nation's top wildfire priority, after it rapidly expanded from about 40000 acre to over 100000 acre on September 3, 2017. Approximately 48 fires were burning, though some were under 1000 acre. The fire season began a month earlier than usual and months of June through August were the hottest and driest on record for Montana. On July 29, Montana had 11.87 percent of its total land listed as in exceptional drought, the largest percentage in the nation. In mid September, the eastern portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park was closed by ice and snow in the Rockies, while simultaneously the western portion was closed due to wildfires.

Federal disaster assistance was requested by Governor Steve Bullock and FEMA granted funds for the Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana, Alice Creek Fire near Lincoln, Montana, West Fork Fire near Libby, Montana, Highway 200 Complex in Sanders County, Montana and the Moose Peak Fire. Over $280 million had been spent on firefighting by early August. A number of areas were subjected to evacuation orders, including most of the town of Seeley Lake. By September 18, 2017, rain and snow had significantly slowed most fires, except for parts of far northwestern Montana, near Libby, where the West Fork Fire required some evacuation orders to remain in effect.

List of fires
Major fires of 2017 that consumed over 1000 acre include the following :

 Over 100,000 acres
 * Lodgepole Complex Fire, public and private land 52 miles WNW of Jordan, 270723 acres
 * Rice Ridge Fire, Lolo National Forest, near Seeley Lake, Montana, 160183 acres

 Over 50,000 acres
 * Meyers Fire, Beaverhead National Forest/Deerlodge National Forest, 62034 acres
 * Lolo Peak Fire, Lolo National Forest, 53902 acres

Over 20,000 acres
 * Sapphire Complex Fire, Lolo National Forest, 43733 acres
 * Little Hogback Fire, Lolo National Forest, 29654 acres
 * Alice Creek Fire, Helena National Forest – Lewis and Clark National Forest, 29252 acres
 * Tongue River Complex Fire, Custer National Forest/Gallatin National Forest, 28957 acres
 * Liberty Fire, Flathead Indian Reservation, 28689 acres
 * Sunrise Fire, Lolo National Forest, 26310 acres
 * Highway 200 Complex Fire, Lolo National Forest/Kootenai National Forest, near Plains and Thompson Falls, Montana 48417 acres
 * Caribou Fire, near Eureka, Montana, Kootenai National Forest, 24753 acres
 * East Fork Fire, state land in Bears Paw Mountains, south of Havre, Montana, 21896 acres
 * Strawberry Fire, near Dupuyer, Montana, Flathead National Forest, 20894 acres
 * Scalp Fire, Flathead National Forest, 20810 acres
 * West Fork Fire, Kootenai National Forest, 20072 acres

Over 10,000 acres
 * Park Creek Fire, Helena National Forest/Lewis and Clark National Forest, 18000 acres
 * Sprague Fire, Glacier National Park, 16790 acres
 * Moose Peak Fire, Kootenai National Forest, 13903 acres
 * Gibralter Ridge Fire, Kootenai National Forest, 12938 acres
 * July Fire, public and private land near Zortman, 11699 acres
 * Whetstone Ridge Fire, Beaverhead National Forest/Deerlodge National Forest, 11593 acres
 * Reef Fire, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Flathead National Forest, 10658 acres
 * Crucifixion Creek Fire, near Heart Butte, Montana, in the Badger-Two Medicine area, Helena National Forest/Lewis and Clark National Forest, 11008 acres

Over 1,000 acres
 * Goat Creek Fire, Lolo National Forest, 8323 acres
 * Crying Fire, public and private land 50 miles north of Winnett, 7295 acres
 * Blacktail Fire, Lewis and Clark National Forest, 5351 acres
 * Green Ridge Complex Fire, Bitterroot National Forest, 4769 acres
 * Weasel Fire, Kootenai National Forest, 3925 acres
 * Monahan Fire, Lolo National Forest, 3613 acres
 * Blue Ridge Complex Fire, public and private land 39 miles NW of Jordan, 3034 acres
 * Buffalo Fire, public and private land 31 miles SW of Broadus, 3020 acres
 * Adair Peak Fire, Glacier National Park, 4034 acres
 * Conrow Fire, Beaverhead National Forest/Deerlodge National Forest, 2741 acres
 * Yooper Fire, SW Rural Culbertson/Richland County area, private and public land, 7816 acres