WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. (AP) Firefighters battling a blaze just north of West Yellowstone have been able to keep the three-thousand-acre fire from jumping the Madison River.

U-S Forest Service spokeswoman Erin Fryer says fire crews were able to keep the main fire south of the Madison. She says additional crews were stationed north of the river, to extinguish spot fires as they happened.

Fryer says helicopters focused their efforts on the east flank of the fire, dropping buckets of water. Air tankers dropped retardant on the fire's west perimeter.

The Madison Arm fire is burning two miles north of West Yellowstone, on the Hebgen Lake Ranger District of the Gallatin National Forest.

The fire started Wednesday from a still-unknown cause.

Evacuation orders remain in effect for about 40 summer homes, a resort and a campground.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 06-29-07 1220CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list