The latest on the area forest fires:

From the Bitterroot National Forest August 17, the Bass Creek Recreation Area, Larry Creek Group Site and Charles Waters Campgrounds have been closed due to the Lolo Peak Fire.

The popular recreation site is four miles south of Florence and is in the newly designated Stage I Evacuation Warning area that extends north to Florence, on the west side of US 93. North of Florence to the Missoula County Line is a Mandatory evacuation zone, also west of US 93. Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton said that officers have been going door-to-door as hundreds more homes are threatened by the 15,000-acre fire.

KLYQ recommends you sign up for the alert app from the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office for the latest information on this evolving situation. We are also updating our reports regularly on klyq.com. Greg Poncin's Type 1 Incident Management team has come back to the Lolo Peak fire. They took over management of the blaze Thursday.

A public information meeting will be at the Florence Baptist Church at 7 p.m. Thursday, August 17.

Be extra careful on Highway 93 through the fire area.

In Hamilton, the smoke has poured in again from the Chute Creek Fire in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, about a mile west of Blodgett Lake. The fire doubled in size Wednesday and was 1,172 acres in a mid-morning report Thursday.

In the wilderness, the Moose 1 fire has burned 8,729 acres, the Lone Pine fire is at 5,762 acres and in the Frank Church Wilderness, the Rattlesnake Point Fire is 4,394 acres, according to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. Jeannette Dreadfulwater reports that last weekend's rainstorms included over 150 lightning strikes that have caused new fires to pop up in the Idaho forest this week.

Air quality at 5 p.m. August 17 was "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" in Hamilton and Missoula.

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