Weather helping firefighters

HELENA – The wildfire along Glacier National Park’s eastern edge grew to 27,000 acres on Saturday, or roughly 42 square miles, officials said.

Fire information officer Karen Semple said Saturday evening the Red Eagle fire was 50 percent contained.

Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped firefighters make progress fighting the fire on Saturday. But with higher temperatures and lower humidity in the forecast for the next few days, the fire could grow rapidly, Semple said.

“We’ll see what happens, but the good news is that we made significant progress today because the weather was helping us,” Semple said.

The number of people fighting the fire jumped to 590 on Saturday, up 100 from Friday evening.

As of Saturday evening, the fire has cost $2,546,000 to fight, Semple said. The fire’s cause remained under investigation.

U.S. 89 reopened Friday after the burning closed part of the route. Glacier National Park and its Going-to-the-Sun Road were open.

Containment of the Gash Creek fire in the Bitterroot Valley was estimated at 55 percent.