Wildfire — Garfield, Montana

2003-07-16 to 2003-07-27 · near Brusett, Garfield, Montana

Wider weather episode

The Missouri Breaks Complex Fires started on July 16th due to lightning strikes. The complex of fires included four fires in Eastern Garfield County. The four fires included the Germain, Ghost Coulee, Big Coulee and Indian fires and was classified as a type two incident. The complex was approximately 35 miles west of Jordan in Garfield County. The fires threatened 50 residences and 150 outbuildings. The complex was difficult to contain due to the terrain in coulees and tree filled gorges that made fire fighting and fire suppression both dangerous and difficult. The fire made it's largest run on the 19th due to a combination of high temperatures and low relative humidity. The Curry Coulee RAWS site had a high temperature of 103F and relative humidity of 7 percent on the afternoon of the 19th. In fact, the temperature at the Curry Coulee raws site jumped to 113F during the afternoon of the 19th as the fire passed over the recording equipment. The weather was unusually hot and dry from the 16th through the 24th with daily highs in the upper 90s to around 105F and relative humidity values frequently dropped into the single digits during the afternoon. In addition to the heat and dry conditions, strong winds helped to rapidly spread the fire on the 19th when wind gust of 40 to 45 mph were reported during the afternoon. Relative humidity recovery was poor at night with relative humidity values remained between 25 and 30 percent. The fire were declared under control at 5:50 pm on July 27th after burning 130,927 acres. A total of 8 structures were destoyed and one was damaged. The fire destroyed 610 miles of barb wired fence . This was the largest fire at that point and time in the United States.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5330457. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.