Crews step up attack on 61K acre Montana wildfire

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By The Associated Press

Story Published: Aug 28, 2008 at 2:32 PM MST

Story Updated: Aug 28, 2008 at 2:32 PM MST

BILLINGS - A break in the weather Thursday is allowing firefighters to resume their fight against a central Montana wildfire that has charred an estimated 61,000 acres, or more than 95 square miles.

The size of the blaze is double the estimate given late Wednesday, but fire officials say it had not grown significantly overnight. They attribute the change to better mapping, through an aerial survey of the Dunn Fire Thursday morning. No evacuations have been ordered. Nine ranch houses were threatened, and a bridge along Railroad Creek Road in Yellowstone County was destroyed.

Strong winds caused the blaze to expand rapidly Wednesday, through a mixture of grasslands, sage brush and ponderosa pine. The front of the east-moving blaze is roughly five miles north of Pompeys Pillar National Monument, on the far side of the Yellowstone River. The monument is not considered threatened.

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