Monday’s wet, cool weather allowed crews to close in on the wildfire, which is burning in heavy timber and difficult terrain on the Flathead and Kootenai national forests.
With the River Road East Fire outside of Paradise growing to more than 16,000 acres over the weekend, officials implemented a temporary flight restriction in the skies above the blaze on Monday.
The River Road East Fire outside Paradise grew to roughly 13,414 acres on Saturday as smoky conditions hampered the use of aircraft to fight the blaze.