An unseasonable wildfire driven by strong winds prompted an evacuation of a ski lodge in southern Montana. The blaze a few miles west of the community of Red Lodge had grown to 700 acres by Saturday night, US Forest Service spokesman Jeff Gildehaus said. The fire was first reported on open private land around 12.30pm, but it was driven by winds gusting 35 to 50 mph into the Custer National Forest, where the Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski area is located. It was zero per cent contained as of early Saturday night. A wildfire near the Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski area in southern Montana had grown to 700 acres after being reported at 200 acres earlier on Saturday . Thirteen engines and two fire attack crews had been deployed, according to KTVQ. 'There's snow between the ski area and the fire and the timber. But it's also a solid run of timber from where the fire is to the ski area,' Gildehaus said. 'So it gets up in the trees and starts running the crowns of the trees and it starts advancing toward the ski area.' He said that the decision to evacuate the Red Lodge ski area was made about 2:30 p.m. Saturday as a precautionary move and because there was just one road for firefighters and skiers to use. The evacuations have since been lifted, and Gildehaus said people were free to return to the ski area. He said the winds had eased somewhat and were expected to continue that course through the night. Gildehaus wasn't sure how many people had been evacuated, but he estimated about 500. The resort posted on its Facebook page that guests were safe and being escorted down the mountain by law enforcement. Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski area had an evacuation order on Saturday that was lifted. The US Forest Service said that no structures had been damaged in the blaze thus far (file photo) It plans on being open Sunday. The fire burned around rural homes, but no structures were damaged, Gildehaus said. With still no containment by Saturday night, the blaze had more than tripled from the 200 acres reported earlier in the day. Wildfires in the area at this time of year are unusual, he said. 'But down in the low elevation, there isn't any snow and things are pretty dry,' Gildehaus said. 'We haven't really had any green-up yet where grasses turn green. We got all the dry grass from last year, and things are pretty dry.' The fire actually started on Wednesday after a subdivision's controlled burn, according to the Billings Gazette. Red Lodge Fire Chief Tom Kuntz said that the blaze 'would have been a major fire in the summer,' A rain shower helped firefighters, but Kuntz said that several days would be required to deal with the fire. Traffic on state highways was diverted on Saturday. Other wildfires were reported elsewhere Saturday in Montana and northern Wyoming, leading to the evacuation of a subdivision. The southwestern portion of Montana and northern part of Wyoming are filled by a forest that stretches south to Shoshone and Yellowstone national parks.
Blaze at Custer National Forest grew from 200 acres earlier on Saturday . Evacuation order given at Red Lodge Mountain in Montana later lifted . Fire zero was per cent contained as of early Saturday night . Subdivision's controlled burn on Wednesday began the fire .