In the past seven days, about a dozen blazes have been contained in the Northern Rockies region, including a nearly 40,000-acre fire near Big Timber. But more than a dozen blazes were still burning early Tuesday.
``Our containment numbers are up, all of the containment lines held and we had hardly any new (fire) starts throughout the region,'' said Julena Campbell, of the Northern Rockies Interagency Information Center in Missoula.
``But of course that doesn't mean we can sit around and rest, either,'' she said. ``There's a lot of work left.''
Weather forecasts predicted more warm, dry and possibly windy weather later in the week _ all bad news for firefighters.
A complex of eight fires about 35 miles from Missoula had grown to about 30,900 acres by Monday night, but containment was estimated at 22 percent and some of the 195 evacuated families were allowed back into their homes.
``We had our third real productive day. The weather is cooperating, but the future may not,'' said fire information officer D.L. Wilkerson. ``Unfortunately, our weatherman is usually right when it comes to this.''
Two large wildfires were still burning, including one a few miles south of the Canadian border that has burned 36 buildings and has charred about 44,440 acres. Another blaze burning along the western side of Glacier National Park was estimated at 45,581 acres.
In all, fires have burned more than 350,000 acres in Montana this summer.
In Wyoming, a burnout that closed the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park again was progressing well Monday night, prompting crews to predict the entrance could be reopened as early as Wednesday evening.
The east entrance, one of five into Yellowstone, had been closed for more than a week because of the fires. It was reopened for limited traffic during the weekend but closed again Monday, sending travelers heading to the park from Cody, Wyo., on a 29-mile detour.
Large fires also were active Monday in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. So far this year, wildfires have blackened 2.5 million acres, compared to 6.1 million at the same time last year, the center said.
