New fire cooking in Glacier Park

A wildfire fire in the southern backcountry of Glacier National Park put up an impressive plume Sunday, forcing the closure of several backcountry campgrounds in the potential path of the blaze.

The Thompson Creek Fire was roughly 500 acres and is burning west of the Upper Nyack Creek campground. Thompson Creek is about 14 miles north of U.S. Highway 2 one of the most remote areas of Glacier. The fire currently does not threaten any roads, but at least two hikers were airlifted safely from the blaze.

But fire has the potential at burn into the Cut Bank Pass area. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s for the next few days with gusty winds as thunderstorms roll through.

Beaver Woman Lake, Upper and Lower Nyack, Coal Creek and Atlantic Creek and Morning Star Lake backcountry campgrounds are all closed, as is Oldman Lake campground in Two Medicine, though it wasn’t immediately clear if Oldman was closed due to the potential fire danger or another cause. Oldman is often closed due to bears.

The Reynolds Creek Fire has already closed the Gunsight Lake and Reynolds Creek campgrounds.

The east side of the Sun Road continues to be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with no stopping from Siyeh Bend to St. Mary campground.