By Emmett Berg
KALISPELL, Mont. (Reuters) - Strong winds and warm temperatures were slowing efforts to contain a wildfire at Glacier National Park in Montana, forcing campers to evacuate near the eastern entrance and closing part of an iconic roadway popular with tourists, official said.
The so-called Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire, which broke out Tuesday, had grown to 4,000 acres (1618 hectares) by early Thursday, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a news release.
The blaze doubled in size in a matter of hours, forcing some vacationers out of the park at the height of the summer tourist season.
"The fire is moving quickly in dry, heavy timber with extreme spread potential," the late Wednesday release said. "Due to windy conditions and extreme fire behavior, today?s suppression actions were limited to aerial water drops and some on-the-ground crew work," it said.
The fire destroyed one structure, the Baring Creek Cabin, a historic backcountry cabin, NPS said.
The blaze also forced the closure of the St. Mary entrance at the eastern end of the park and about 20 miles (32 km) of Going-to-the-Sun Road from that entrance to an area called Big Bend, the NPS said.
The picturesque Going-to-the-Sun Road, which bisects the park and crosses the Continental Divide, is a major tourist draw.
There have been no reports of injuries, and park rangers were continuing to look for backpackers and hikers in the area who might be in harm's way, officials said.
The rest of Glacier National Park, which lies in northwestern Montana along the Canadian border, remains open to the public.
Two campgrounds and a motor inn located in the Glacier's east were evacuated.
Marc Ducharme, the general manager of Denver-based Xanterra, which operates hotels, concessions and tour busses at the park, said 60 employees were evacuated from Rising Sun.
"We got out fast, but we'd already practiced an evacuation because it's a dry year," Ducharme said.
Wildfires in recent weeks have raged across several states in the drought-parched U.S. West.
Additional resources and personnel were being deployed to help fight the fire, the NPS said.
(Writing by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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