Governor Gianforte launches statewide fire dashboard

On Monday Governor Greg Gianforte launched a new dashboard to keep Montanans informed on active fires burning in the state.

"Across Montana, our heroic firefighters are confronting more than eighty fires that threaten our communities, infrastructure, first responders, and way of life. Ensuring Montanans receive accurate and timely information regarding these fires is more important than ever," Gov. Gianforte said. "I'm urging all Montanans to do their part to reduce wildfire risk by following local fire restrictions, preparing their homes and communities for wildfire, and recreating and working safely while outdoors."

The new dashboard includes information on all active wildfires as well as more detailed information on fires greater than 100 acres, including size, percent contained, and fire cause. It also includes information on the total number of fires and acres burned in Montana this calendar year.

As of this afternoon, there are currently 88 active fires in the state, with 13 starts in the last 24 hours. There have been 1,794 fires this year, with more than 468,158 acres burned to date this year. In the past week alone, the number of acres burned has doubled across Montana.

Dashboard data will be updated routinely throughout the day as soon as incident information is updated.

"Here at the DNRC, we continue to be intently focused on the 2021 fire season, and we hope that this new resource provides the public with the necessary information to keep them safe and informed," Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Director Amanda Kaster said.

The governor declared a statewide wildfire emergency on July 14 in response to the extremely dry and dangerous wildfire conditions and the national shortage of firefighting resources. The governor has since mobilized the Montana National Guard and secured wildfire support from Utah and California through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) to assist in the state's wildland fire response.

The new dashboard can be accessed at mtfireinfo.org, a site launched by DNRC in June to keep Montanans and visitors to the state updated on current fire restriction information.