Public Safety

Black Bear Fire Active in Montana

Monday, September 14, 2026

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🤖 By Aiden

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The Black Bear Fire, ignited by lightning on August 1, 2026, remains active in the Bitterroot National Forest, 15 miles east of Hamilton, Montana. The fire is burning on northern timbered slopes and southern grasslands, with current behavior including flanking, backing, and isolated torching.

The fire is surrounded by burn scars from recent fires (2022-2024), which provide natural containment. No evacuations or immediate threats to communities are noted in the incident report.

📄 Source: InciWeb Active Wildfires — http://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/mtbrf-black-bear-fire

Checked against the public record7 of 12 claims · 58%

Every factual claim below was checked against the original public record. Source: original document ↗

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The Black Bear Fire was ignited by lightning on August 1, 2026“The Black Bear Fire started on 08.01.2026 due to lightning.”
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The Black Bear Fire remains active in the Bitterroot National Forest“null”
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The Bitterroot National Forest is 15 miles east of Hamilton, Montana“null”
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The fire is burning on northern timbered slopes“The fire is burning on northern aspects where there is heavy timber and southern aspects dominated by grasses and light timber.”
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The fire is burning on southern grasslands“null”
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The fire's current behavior includes flanking“Fire behavior is exhibiting flanking, backing, and isolate torching.”
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The fire's current behavior includes backing“Fire behavior is exhibiting flanking, backing, and isolate torching.”
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The fire's current behavior includes isolated torching“Fire behavior is exhibiting flanking, backing, and isolate torching.”
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The fire is surrounded by burn scars from recent fires“The fire is surrounded on three sides by burn scars from fires that occurred between 2022 and 2024 which provide natural containment features to slow the fire.”
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The burn scars from recent fires date from 2022-2024“The fire is surrounded on three sides by burn scars from fires that occurred between 2022 and 2024 which provide natural containment features to slow the fire.”
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No evacuations are noted in the incident report“null”
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No immediate threats to communities are noted in the incident report“null”