Hill County Commission to vote on fire restrictions next week

The Hill County Commission will be voting next week on whether to move out of Stage 1 fire restrictions, eliminating prohibitions on burning as this year’s fire season marches toward its end.

The commission is not meeting this week due to being at the Montana Association of Counties Convention so there will be no vote on the matter this week.

The Hill County Commission initially announced that they would be rescinding the restrictions effective at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning, via an email to the Havre Daily News Tuesday.

But when the Havre Daily asked whether that meant the county would go into a burn ban or rescind all restrictions their office responded that “after much discussion this morning ... we are going to continue as we previously were and will hold a vote next Thursday.”

Hill County, after seeing a number of fires in the closing week of July implemented Stage 1 restrictions, which generally prohibit building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire.

However, in the past three weeks, Hill County, and indeed this region of Montana, has seen very light fire activity as moisture and precipitation have gradually moved into the area.

Conditions have also been fairly safe, with National Weather Service in Great Falls and Glasgow reporting during a regional fire update call Tuesday very little in terms of concerning fire weather over the past month, and counties throughout the region reporting few if any fires.

In Hill County, precipitation is expected throughout the weekend and into next week as highs drop into the 60s and even 50s Saturday and Sunday, with a slight uptick in highs going into next week as clouds stick around.