Fire
In the Rocky Mountains of Northwest Montana, just south of the Canadian border, lies the 2.4-million-acre Flathead National Forest. The Forest extends across six counties of Montana – Flathead, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Missoula, and Powell, and borders both Confederated Salish and Kootenai and Blackfeet Nation Tribal lands. Operating out of five ranger district offices (Tally Lake, Glacier View, Hungry Horse, Swan Lake, and Spotted Bear), engines and crews are strategically based to provide rapid and effective fire response.
The Flathead National Forest is committed to the management of all aspects of wildland fire operations including initial and extended attack of wildland fires, vegetation and fuels management, prescribed burning, prevention and education, and utilizing technology in dynamic and changing environments. Wildland fire management decisions and resource management decisions go hand in hand and are based on the 2018 Flathead National Forest Land Management Plan.
Protection of human life is always recognized as the first priority for fire management activities. Property and resource values are the second priority, with management decisions based on values to be protected.
The Flathead National Forest’s fire program plan and execute the prescribed fire, fuels and aviation management activities on the Forest, as well as national and international response to wildfire and all hazard incidents. The Forest Helitack program supports an Exclusive Use Type 3 Helicopter hosted at Hungry Horse Helibase. The Flathead National Forest is proud to be the home base of the Flathead Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) and Great Northern Type 2 Initial Attack Crew, highly trained and skilled crews. The Forest’s fire program also manages Kalispell Interagency Dispatch Center which mobilizes all interagency resources within the center’s dispatch zone. The Flathead National Forest’s fire program resource and individuals provide safe, organized, and mobile response to all aspects of wildland fire management, all hazard incidents, as well as support for other forest and recreation management projects on the Forest.
Since 1994, the Flathead National Forest has had an annual range of 15 and 149 wildfire starts per year with a total of 1,993 starts during the last 30 years. The total burned acres per year range from 5 acres to 235,520 acres with a total of 786,000 acres since 1994. Lightning storms cause approximately 62% of wildfire starts on the Flathead National Forest, and human-caused wildfire starts comprise about 37%. Our core fire season is July through September for lightning fires and March through November for human-caused fires.
Stay Up to Date
Visit our Fire Information page to get the most accurate and up to date fire information. The pages features links to:
- Flathead Alerts & Fire Danger Ratings
- Forest-specific & larger incident fire information
- Area fire restrictions
Learn More
Visit our Fire Management page to learn more about the role that wildfire plays in our environment. You can also find a link to the interactive Region 1 Fire History Map!
Additional Resources
Fire Hire
Interested in becoming a wildland firefighter? Join our firefighters who protect millions of acres of National Forest System lands.
FireSafe Flathead
FireSafe Flathead is a group of individuals, neighborhoods, organizations, and agency wildfire professionals who are working to create and support Fire Adapted Communities and resilient landscapes in the Flathead area. Visit their website to learn more!
Smokey Bear
Smokey Bear has been helping us prevent wildfires for 80 years. Click here to learn important fire prevention and safety trips that are important to follow at home or in the woods!