He was later located and is uninjured, officials said.
“The individual has been found, uninjured and safe. Thank you to all those who assisted and to our dedicated Search and Rescue Volunteers. We are thankful for the positive outcome!!” the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office said in a message on its Facebook page.
But some relief could be on the way. About 3 million people are under excessive heat warnings in parts of Montana, Oregon, and Idaho, but most warnings will end by Tuesday.
More than 22,000 deployed to battle fires
More than 22,000 firefighters and other personnel have been deployed to battle the flames throughout the US, NIFC said.
The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation warning from Martin Creek on Highway 12 to the Idaho border as wildfires continue to burn in the area.
The dangerous fire conditions have already injured five federal firefighters who were working in Montana last week.
“Numerous wind shifts and rapid rates of spread resulted in erratic fire behavior as thunderstorms and associated cells were passing over the area when the incident occurred,” the release said.
The bureau said the firefighters were evacuated and medically evaluated to “determine the extent of their injuries” following the incident on July 22 in Garfield County. An update on their conditions was not available.
Beaverhead-Deerlodge is the largest of the national forests in Montana, covering 3.35 million acres within eight southwest Montana counties.
Severe fire conditions fueling Bootleg Fire
“Severe fire weather conditions and extremely dry fuels continue to challenge us on this fire,” said Joe Hessel, incident commander for the Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team on Sunday. He noted the progress that has been made “is due to the continuous, vigilant work by our crews.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday she is worried high temperatures will continue to contribute to the spread of the Bootleg Fire.
“It’s incredibly important with climate change, that we get into these forests and start doing the fitting and harvest and prescriptive burning, so that we can create healthier landscapes that are more resilient, for wildfire,” Brown said.
She signed legislation last week that would arm the state with tools and resources to make communities “more adaptive” to wildfires. The legislation includes resources for adequate firefighting tools and prescriptive and mitigation efforts.
Dixie Fire exhibiting extreme fire behavior
In an update Sunday, the Inciweb page noted the fire “experienced significant growth and very challenging fire conditions.”
More than 5,000 fire personnel are working on the two fires, the website said.
The fires have threatened several communities and burned areas that will be reviewed by damage assessment teams once the conditions become safer, according to Inciweb.
CNN’s Deanna Hackney, Jenn Selva, and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.
Missing firefighter found safe as wildfires rage across US