Fire restrictions were scheduled to be lifted at 12:01 a.m. Friday. in much of central Montana.

The decision, announced Thursday, comes just as another round of rain and snow heads toward the state this weekend.

That weather front should be the final blow to the state’s second largest fire season in 29 years.

“We’re moving out of fire season,” said Kathy Bushnell, a spokeswoman for Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Northern Region Coordinating Group, made up of land management agencies and counties, said that all fire restrictions would be lifted on federal, state, tribal and county lands within the Helena and Great Falls division, which includes most of central Montana.

Cooler weather and recent precipitation have lowered fire danger, and management of most fires has been turned over to local forest ranger districts to monitor, Bushnell said.

“There is still a fire danger level out there, but it’s not critical by any means,” Bushnell said.

Smoke might still be visible from fires, and some areas remain quite dry, Bushnell added. “We just want people to be careful."

“It’s pretty much over west of the Divide because we had enough precipitation and now we’re going to get more,” said Mike Richmond, a meteorologist with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center in Missoula, which coordinates fire resources. “There’s still smokes out there, but nothing’s really able to grow.”

Two big rainstorms from Sept. 13 to Sept. 20 were season-ending events for western Montana, he said.

Fire danger still remains in central and eastern Montana because grass fire potential can quickly rise after a few days of Chinook winds, Richmond said.

Fire danger is expected to be moderate to high in central and eastern Montana Friday and Saturday.

But sustained periods of winds aren’t forecast following this weekend, he said.

And a big low-pressure trough is expected to arrive in western Montana Saturday reaching central Montana Saturday night and Sunday, he said.

It will bring rain at lower elevations and snow in the mountains.

It will be followed by a second storm system Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Between those two systems it’s going to keep temperatures below normal at least through Wednesday and possibly through Thursday,” Richmond said.

Highs are expected to be in the upper 40s in Great Falls Sunday and could drop to the low 40s Monday and Tuesday.

Acres burned by wildfires in Montana reached 1.2 million acres in 2017, the second largest wildfire season since 1988 behind the year 2012, Richmond said.

