Missoula County wildfire resources for homeowners

What is the Missoula County Community Wildfire Protection Plan?

The county describes its Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) as a community-based plan focused on identifying and addressing the local threat of wildfire: what is at risk and what actions reduce that risk. Missoula County adopted its first plan in 2005 and updated it in 2018, with the Office of Emergency Management leading the work. When we checked the county page in November 2026, it said the county was in the early stages of updating the plan in 2026.

The same page links two maps worth bookmarking: the county's Wildland Urban Interface map and its Wildfire Hazard Assessment map. It also links the Grant Creek CWPP, completed in 2024 by the Friends of Grant Creek with support from the Office of Emergency Management, an example of a neighborhood writing its own plan within the county framework. For what the WUI label means for your lot, see the wildland-urban interface in Missoula and Ravalli counties.

Which fire department covers my address in Missoula County?

The 2018 CWPP explains that most communities in the county fall within one of ten community-based fire response agencies: rural fire districts, fire service areas, or the Missoula City Fire Department. Its table lists, among others, the Missoula Rural Fire District (Blackfoot and Turah, Grant Creek and the Rattlesnake, Pattee Canyon, Lolo and Miller Creek, and Target Range and Big Flat), the Frenchtown Rural Fire District, East Missoula Rural Fire District, Clinton Rural Fire District (Clinton and Lower Rock Creek), the Florence Rural Fire District for the area north of Florence, Greenough/Potomac, Seeley Lake, Swan Valley and Arlee.

The 2018 plan also noted that only the Missoula City Fire Department had an all-paid staff, that Missoula and Frenchtown rural districts used a mix of paid and volunteer firefighters, and that the other districts relied completely on volunteers. It reported roughly 22,000 acres of private land in the county without an organized fire response system at the time, naming areas such as Upper Miller Creek, Ninemile Prairie, Upper Lolo Creek and the Eight-Mile area near Florence, where the county had taken on suppression responsibility under an agreement with the state. Coverage can change, so if your property is in one of those areas, ask the county which agency responds today.

Does Missoula County offer free wildfire home assessments?

Yes. The Office of Emergency Management's Wildfire Program offers a free home assessment that you request through a form on the county website or by calling the Wildfire Program at 406-880-8090. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Under the county's cost-share program, the assessment is done by a Missoula County Wildfire Mitigation Specialist who visits the property, determines eligibility and develops a customized treatment plan, so it is also the first step if you want help paying for the work.

The Missoula Rural Fire District's site also lists a wildfire risk assessment request. Either way, a free assessment is a good place to start: it can show you which trees and which corners of the house matter, so the money you then spend goes where it reduces risk. More options across the region are in free wildfire risk assessments in western Montana.

How does the Missoula County wildfire cost-share program work?

The county's page describes the Wildfire Ready Missoula County cost-share program as a partnership between Missoula County and United Way of Missoula County, funded through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. The county states it will pay up to 75 percent of eligible project costs, subject to a per-acre cap listed on the page. Eligible work includes defensible space around homes and outbuildings, removing hazardous vegetation along driveways and access routes, and projects that support long-term forest health and community wildfire resilience.

The steps, as the page lays them out: a free assessment and treatment plan from a county specialist; estimates from forestry contractors (the county says an approved contractor list is available); contracts signed between the county and the contractor and between you and the contractor; and, after a county specialist inspects the finished work, payment of the county's share directly to the contractor. Grant funds require hiring a contractor, though you may do some parts of the plan yourself to lower costs. Projects must be finished within one year of the start date, including debris disposal by chipping, hauling or pile burning. The page lists tree removal requiring ropes or aerial lifts, stump grinding and prescribed burning as ineligible, while slash pile burning is eligible.

Program terms change with grant funding, so read the county page before you start, and ask any contractor, including us, whether they are on the county's approved list. We compare this program with state and federal options in fuel reduction cost-share and grant programs in Montana.

How will I be told to evacuate in Missoula County?

The county's evacuation page uses two terms. An evacuation Warning means current or projected hazards may require immediate evacuation; use that time for final preparations and to move people who need extra help. An evacuation Order means conditions present an imminent threat, and you should leave immediately without stopping to gather belongings. The page stresses that an order can come without a prior warning and that you do not have to wait for one to leave early.

Orders may arrive by an emergency vehicle moving slowly with sirens and lights, by loudspeaker, or by text alerts through Smart911, which the county asks residents to sign up for at smart911.com. The Missoula County Sheriff's Office posts evacuation notices on its social media, and the page lists a disaster information line, 406-258-4636, for shelter information. Only incident commanders can lift an order, so do not return until it has been rescinded. Our Ready, Set, Go evacuation plan guide turns this into a household plan.

When can I burn yard debris in Missoula County?

Missoula County Public Health announced that the general, essential agriculture and prescribed wildland outdoor burning seasons opened on March 1, 2026. A permit is required to burn natural vegetation or untreated wood generated on site, and it must be activated on the day you burn, online at burn.egovmt.com or through the automated phone line listed by the county. Burning is allowed after 9 a.m., and fires must be out by 4 p.m., the window the county's air quality specialist says gives the best smoke dispersion. The Missoula Rural Fire District lists the general outdoor burning season as March 1 to August 31, and both sources warn that burning closes early, typically in midsummer, when fire danger rises.

Two local rules catch people out. Inside Missoula city limits, a parcel must be at least one acre to be eligible, and recreational fires are banned year-round in the city. And within the air stagnation zone, which the county says extends about four miles beyond city limits, it is illegal to burn piles of leaves and grasses; compost them or take them to a facility instead. For pile building and safety, see burning slash piles safely and legally; for the alternatives, chipping on site or hauling slash away.

What does Missoula County say to do around the house?

The county's prepare-your-property page encourages landowners to maintain the area within 200 feet of the home, which it calls the home ignition zone, starting at the house and moving outward. Its first priorities are removing leaves and pine needles from gutters, the roof and around fences; installing flame- and ember-resistant vents; clearing vegetation, firewood and other combustibles from on top of and underneath the deck; and a Class A rated roof. It also asks you to clear vegetation, shrubs, juniper bushes and other combustibles to create a five-foot buffer around the home, trim branches that overhang the roof or gutters or touch the house, and move an external propane tank more than 10 feet from the home.

Its second and third priorities move to the building itself: replacing wood or plastic fences attached to the house with metal, enclosing low decks, noncombustible siding at least on the lower foot, enclosed eaves, and tempered dual-pane windows. Those are jobs for a builder or roofer; the vegetation, debris and tree items are ours. We break the outdoor work down in the home ignition zone guide, defensible space zone by zone and wood fences attached to a house.

Where do Missoula County neighborhoods get organized?

If your neighbors want to work together, the Missoula Rural Fire District's April 2026 newsletter reported four Firewise communities in Missoula County with others in progress. NFPA's process is explained in Firewise USA communities in Montana, and a plan for a whole subdivision or HOA is in a wildfire plan for an HOA or subdivision.

How HJ Property Care works with Missoula County programs

We work across the Missoula side of our service area, including Missoula, Lolo and Clinton. Our fire mitigation service covers what county treatment plans usually call for: selective conifer thinning, limbing to ANSI A300 standards, ladder-fuel removal, clearing needles and debris near the house, and chipping or hauling slash. We also do the hazard tree removal and tree work near power lines that a homeowner should not attempt. If you already have a county assessment or treatment plan, send it with your estimate request and we will price exactly what it describes. The rest of our wildfire guides are in the Montana Wildfire & Defensible Space Guide, and local detail is in fire mitigation in Missoula.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a free estimate. We walk the property with you, starting at the house and working outward, and an ISA Certified Arborist plans the tree work.

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