By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – More details are emerging about the grass fires in Havre over the extended holiday weekend.
Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson says that although they received 11 calls of reported grass fires on the 4th of July, the majority of calls ended up being false alarms, or the fire was already out upon their arrival.
However, four of the incidents did end up being grass fires. Paulson says all four were a half-acre or less in size.
Fireworks have been confirmed to be the cause of two of the fires. One of which was the fire just after 10 PM on the 1300 block of US Highway 2 that was in close proximity to the animal shelter.
The other was at 11:19 PM on the 900 block of 6th Street. This was a fire that burned vegetation on private property.
The fires that have an unknown cause at this time were reported at 9:23 PM on the 1200 block of 6th Street, and a fire reported at 9:40 PM on the 300 block of 16th Avenue.
In addition, a wildfire was reported late Monday night in Havre. This fire occurred at the 2000 block of US Highway 2, near the Holiday Village Mall. The fire burned about 10 acres of private land, as well as a scrap school bus. 10 people and three trucks responded to the scene. Authorities were at the scene until around 2:37 AM on Tuesday morning, and the cause is under investigation.
Other fires in Hill County reported over the last week, according to DES Coordinator Amanda Frickel:
- A fire was caused in Box Elder at 3 AM Monday morning because of the improper disposal of fireworks in a dumpster. Under an acre was burned.
- A fire last week was caused by a balloon getting stuck in a power line between Kremlin and Gildford. The wildfire burned around 5 acres of private land near the power line.
- The largest fire last week was 60 acres in size, located north of Havre near Wildhorse Road. A field was burned, but no structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.
The Havre Police Department says no charges or citations were issued over the weekend due to the use of fireworks, and there are no active investigations related to fireworks usage.
Hill County Undersheriff Stan Martin also says no citations or charges were issued related to firework usage over the weekend, and he is not aware of any ongoing investigations.
