WESTERN WILDFIRES AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac The Moose Fire continues to burn west of Glacier National Park and north of Columbia Falls, Mont., Saturday, Sept. 1, 2001. The wind-driven wildfire exploded overnight and more than doubled in size. The fire expanded on all sides, wiping out containment lines that firefighters had established in the previous week as it grew from 19,000 acres on Friday to 40,300 acres by Saturday morning, an official said. Related: •  Rain Aids Glacier Park Fire Crews •  Montana Wildfire Said 'Still a Tiger' •  Wildfire Nears Glacier Nat'l Park •  Evacuated Town Residents Return Home •  National Interagency Fire Center •  Fire Forces Calif. Town to Evacuate •  CA Wildfire 95% Contained •  Rain Comes to Firefighters' Aid •  Wildfires Threaten Rural Areas •  Weather Helps Wildfires Fight •  Weather Helps Crews Fight Blazes •  Eight Fires Burning in Wash. State •  Night Is the Time to Get Near Fire •  Firefighter Injured in WA Wildfires •  Safety shelters are dangerous •  Western Fires Continue to Blaze •  Fire Camp Goes Up in Oregon •  U.S. Troops to Help Battle Fires •  Western Firefighters Strained •  West Wildfires Continue to Spread •  Firefighters Attack Western Wildfires •  Fire Danger in West at Top Level •  Bush, Western Govs Make Wildfire Plan •  Firefighters Take on Western Blazes

BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press Writer

WEST GLACIER, Mont. (AP) -- A fast-growing wildfire advanced at least five miles and moved into Glacier National Park amid 40 mph wind that grounded firefighting helicopters.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which stood at about 46,000 acres on Saturday. A day earlier it was at 19,000 acres.

``This fire is going to get extremely large,'' incident commander Larry Humphrey told some 200 area residents. ``We could have the 5th Army in here and they couldn't stop it.''

The fire threatened several homes and could approach the park's headquarters at West Glacier under the right conditions, Humphrey said.

The fire included 10,000 acres inside the west edge of the park.

Homeowners Jack and Regine Hoag calmly read the newspaper Saturday at their summer home a few steps from Lake McDonald.

``We feel vulnerable, but we don't feel panicked,'' Regine Hoag said.

Doug Miller, another homeowner, was planning to move his horses.

``The main thing is just don't panic. Fires have a life of their own,'' he said.

The Glacier fire was one of 18 major fires that had burned about 150,000 acres in the West on Saturday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

In southern Montana, near Yellowstone National Park, federal aviation officials were investigating Friday's crash of a firefighting helicopter that killed all three men on board.

The twin-engine craft went down in a brushy ravine during a routine maintenance flight, said Jon Lazzaretti, spokesman for the aircraft's owner, Columbia Helicopters Inc. of Aurora, Ore.

Elsewhere in the West, the fire center said crews had the upper hand and were close to containing most of the largest wildfires.

Both the northern California fire that last week threatened the small mining town of Weaverville and a 74,000-acre complex of fires in central Washington's Cascades were about 90 percent contained Friday.

In Arizona, five lightning-caused wildfires had burned more than 1,200 acres around the Grand Canyon, including one that closed a road near the North Rim. Crews were monitoring the fires, but letting them burn.

Also:

• 3 Killed as Montana Firefighting Helicopter Crashes