One blaze has burned more than six square miles along the eastern edge of Glacier National Park in Montana at the height of tourist season.
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Glacier National Park representatives confirmed that the historic Baring Creek Cabin, a National Park Service backcountry cabin, was lost due to the fire.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road is still closed between the St. Mary entrance on the east side and Big Bend on the west side, a distance of 18 miles, but a good section of the park is still operating as usual.
Crews fighting a fire that forced evacuations and closures in Glacier National Park will use fireline explosives Sunday above Going to the Sun Road, as mentioned by a park media release.
The rest of Glacier National Park, which covers more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) in northwestern Montana and straddles the Canadian border, remained open to the public.
Brooke said 688 people were in the campground when the fire ignited Tuesday afternoon about 6 miles east of Logan Pass. Word of the fire began to circulate and soon the plume of smoke could be seen in the distance. The fire is now 20 percent contained.
The fire, which broke out Tuesday, prompted parts of the park to be evacuated on Wednesday, but the Forest Service said the majority of the massive park remains unaffected.
Steve Flanders, spokesman for the observatory, said its parking area was used as a staging ground by fire authorities.
In the first days of the fire Armendarez says information was hard to get, but even if he had not been able to pack up his camp, he knows safety is the first priority. The warning status of the east side of lower St. Mary Lake has been dropped to an advisory. A few 300 firefighters dug fire lines, cleared debris and tried to stop the blaze from spreading northeast toward populated areas.
Residents of about 50 homes were allowed to return Friday, and an evacuation order covering another 150 homes was lifted Saturday, according to the state fire agency. Any reports of the St. Mary Visitor Center reopening on Monday were in error, as mentioned by fire officials. Places such as Many Glacier Hotel, Lake McDonald Lodge and Village Inn at Apgar are far from the fire, and reservations have not been canceled.
“Our thoughts are with the families impacted by the Wragg Fire near Lake Berryessa, which is an hour’s drive from our station”, the Napa Valley Wine Train said on its Facebook page.
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A Northern California wildfire has led to the closure of a major highway between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada, and brought a handful of mandatory evacuations.
