ELMO - Pushed by strong winds on Monday, the Elmo Fire has grown to 16,226 acres and evacuations remain in place. The blaze is now 10% contained.
Mandatory evacuations are in place for Lake Mary Ronan Road, Black Lake Road, and the surrounding areas.
- PHOTO GALLERY: Elmo Fire
A Red Cross evacuation center remain in place at Polson High School while the shelter at Somers Middle School has been placed on standby..
Newsy's Maritsa Georgiou reports the latest mapping flight shows the blaze has grown by over 3,200 acres with most of the new growth to the north and northeast toward Ronan Creek and over to Red and Black Lakes.
Tuesday 🔥 thread: Elmo 2 grew 3,251 acres since last flight to 16,226. Log says most new growth was to the N and NE toward Ronan Creek and over to Red and Black Lakes. Spotting on the far N. Second two maps are comparing E edge from Monday to today. #mtnews #mtfire pic.twitter.com/8Y4OzjVm4v
— Maritsa Georgiou (@MaritsaGeorgiou) August 2, 2022
The fire forced dozens of residents to evacuate Monday, destroyed one structure, and shut down a section of US Highway 93. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) reports that US Highway 93 between Elmo and Dayton will see possible single-lane traffic with reduced speeds.
Fire on US-93 from milepost 77.5 to 83.0 ... https://t.co/iNadPp5103
— MDT Road Report (@mdtroadreport) August 2, 2022
The Boat Ramp at the Elmo Fishing Access Site remains closed as does Lake Mary Ronan State Park.
The Elmo Fire started on July 29, off of Montana Highway 28 around mile marker 39, west of Elmo. The blaze started in grass and made its way into the timber north of Highway 28.
A Type II Incident Management Team is in charge of fighting the Elmo Fire. There are currently 300 people assigned to fight the blaze.
