BROWNING, Mont. (AP) — Two wildfires raging on Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation early today burned thousands of acres, forced scores to evacuate and destroyed several buildings, officials said.
Fueled by strong winds, the two blazes started around sundown Wednesday and together had grown to at least 45,000 acres by 4 a. m. MST today.
One fire started southeast of Browning around sunset and burned about eight miles east to the community of Blackfoot, tribal spokesman Wayne Smith said. Another blaze erupted around the same time about 10 miles away.
A blaze called the Y-fire has scorched at least 30,000 acres and was about 50 percent contained, Smith said.
The nearby Boy Fire had burned through about 15,000 acres of grasslands. He didn’t have a containment estimate.
“It’s probably the biggest grass fire in reservation history,” Smith told The Associated Press.
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