by the AP
LAME DEER, Mont. — Wildfires in Montana threatened rural towns and ranchland and victims of a California blaze returned to their incinerated town even as the region faced another round of dangerous weather.
Firefighters and residents scrambled to save hundreds of homes as flames continued to advance on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana.
Since Sunday, the fire has carved its way through some 260 square miles and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of people.
As the fire raged across rugged hills and narrow ravines, tribal member Darlene Small helped her grandson move about 100 head of cattle to a new pasture, only to relocate them twice more as the flames from the Richard Spring fire bore down, she said Thursday. An extreme drought that’s blanketing the West has made matters worse by stunting vegetation untouched by fire.
“They’ve got to have pasture where there’s water. If there’s no water, there’s no good pasture,” Small said. Particularly hard hit were some ranchers already depending on surplus grass after a fire burned them off their normal pasture last year, she said.
Gusts and low humidity were creating extreme fire behavior as flames devoured brush, short grass and timber, fire officials said…
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