Wildfire — Meagher, Montana

2021-07-17 to 2021-07-31 · Meagher, Montana

Event narrative

The American Fork Fire was a lightning caused incident located in the Crazy Mountains. Only the northwest flank of this fire was located in Meagher County, with a majority of it residing over Park and Sweet Grass Counties. By July 31st, the fire charred 14,397 acres and was only 10 percent contained at that time. This fire merged with the Ohearn Creek Fire on July 18th, 2021. At one point it became a part of the Divide Complex type 1 team managed by the Southern Area Incident Management team.

Wider weather episode

Strong high pressure was the dominant weather pattern in July, which was occasionally suppressed by passing shortwaves and modest moisture for periods of scattered thunderstorms. Often times, the thunderstorm activity was followed by gusty winds and low relative humidity. Both lightning and human caused fires flourished in this environment.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 969752. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.