Fire engulfs lodge; 3 people missing

Three people were missing after a fire Sunday destroyed a lodge at Fort Smith, on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana.

Big Horn County Deputy Sheriff Debbie Winburn said she found the lodge engulfed in flames when she reached the scene Sunday at 2:30 a.m. Five of the lodge’s seven rooms were occupied, Winburn said. Guests in at least four of the rooms were able to escape, she said. Names of the missing were not released. There was no immediate information about the fire’s cause.

Fort Smith, along the Bighorn River, draws anglers. The lodge operated in conjunction with a fishing shop, KHDN-AM reported. The fire also destroyed the fishing shop and another business, the Yellowtail Market, according to the station.

Seattle

Gates scholarships push public health

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation says it will add $58 million to expand its $1 billion Millennium Scholars program to target low-income and minority students seeking a graduate degree in public health.

It’s the first time the foundation has added money to the scholarship program since it was established in 1999.

The program has already given scholarships to more than 10,000 students for undergraduate education in their choice of major and for graduate work in the areas of public health, education, science, math, engineering and library science.

The United Negro College Fund administers the Gates Millennium Scholars program, which has given money to students in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and has helped send them to more than 1,300 colleges and universities.

One of the world’s largest private scholarship efforts in the world gives grants to African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander and Hispanic American students with top grades, community service ex- perience and leadership skills.

Helena

Fire in Glacier partially contained

Smoke hung over areas of Montana on Sunday as a dry weekend concluded and wildfires continued to burn, including a Glacier National Park blaze that had flames licking guardrails on U.S. 89.

The Red Eagle fire, 45 percent of which has been in the park, also burned some trees along the highway south of St. Mary, information officer Karen Semple said.

Altogether the Red Eagle fire had burned about 27,000 acres, or 42 square miles, and was 60 percent contained. Crews try to contain fires by digging shallow trenches the fires must cross in order to spread. The fire’s perimeter exceeded 52 miles.

Other fires still active Sunday included the Big Creek burn on Gallatin National Forest and private land some 29 miles southwest of Livingston. The fire was mapped at 12,000 acres and was 42 percent contained.

In the Bitterroot Valley, the Gash Creek fire had burned 3,450 acres, some in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. Fifty-five percent of the fire was contained.

– From wire reports