POLEBRIDGE, Mont. (AP) -- Cooler weather and light rain helped firefighters as they tried to rein in a wildfire that jumped a main defense line in extreme northwestern Montana and burned toward Canada, barely five miles away.
The 25,000-acre fire broke loose Saturday night, throwing embers across a road and burning another 500 acres in about an hour, Incident Commander Wally Bennett said.
The changing weather on Sunday ``really shut the fire down and made our job a lot easier,'' Bennett said. One sign of progress: tourists were about to be welcomed back to the west side of Glacier National Park.
Some of the roughly 1,200 firefighters deployed were protecting residences scattered throughout the remote, heavily forested area. The fire already has burned 36 buildings, including seven homes.
Officials asked residents days ago to evacuate the area all the way to the Canadian border. Canadian firefighters also cleared a defense line _ a wide swath of vegetation _ just across the border several days ago.
The west side of Glacier National Park was set to reopen Monday after being closed more than a week because of the fire. At one point, the blaze threatened the park headquarters and the tiny town of West Glacier.
Tourists were being allowed to take only day trips to Apgar Village. More of the park's west side was set to reopen Tuesday, park Superintendent Mick Holm said. The east side of the park remains open.
Sunday's reopening announcement came hours after officials lifted an evacuation order and let residents and business owners in and around West Glacier return.
There was no crush of residents returning, though. Officials had said earlier that some people ignored the evacuation order, and that others had come back as the fire threat gradually eased.
One couple who stayed, Dave and Dayle Gaskarth, said they spent several sleepless nights until the danger passed. As they grilled bacon in their garage Sunday morning, they said many residents left more because of the smoke than of the fire.
The lights were on again at the West Glacier Mercantile, a grocery and general store, and owner Bill Lundgren said he would open several more of his businesses in phases.
Clusters of range fires in eastern Montana had burned some 15,000 acres by Sunday night.
Washington state's largest fire burning near the Canadian border did not grow Sunday, as clouds and higher humidity helped firefighters gain an upper hand on the flames.
The wildfire, holding steady at 75,555 acres, is now 57 percent contained, said fire information officer Howard Hunter. ``It has slowed down and it's just creeping at this point,'' he said.
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