(NewsNation) — A wildfire in western Montana spread to 2,000 acres on Friday night, forcing evacuations and road closures.

Montana Right Now reported that the fire broke out Friday near the town of Elmo by Flathead Lake.

CSKT Fire Officer C.T. Camel told the station that three dozen homes near Elmo were being evacuated.

All homes on the north side of the Highway have been evacuated, officials said according to NBC Montana.

NBC Montana reports that the blaze was burning in grass, but moving fast forward timber. Air tankers and helicopters were making drops on the fire.

The public has been advised to avoid the area to let crews work. More than seven agencies with an estimated 120 personnel were assisting in the response, NBC Montana said.

It’s one of the biggest fires in the state of Montana this wildfire season, Montana Right Now reported.

A number of wildfires have devastated large parts of the country, many in the West, as NewsNation previously reported, displacing families and changing the natural landscape.

In California, an Oak Fire raged through Mariposa County in northern California, destroying more than 18,000 acres of land. Thousands were forced to evacuate near Yosemite National Park, with at least 41 homes and other buildings destroyed across roughly 30 square miles.

These larger and deadlier wildfires have plagued California as climate change made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years.

Wildfires have also ravaged the southwest, including in Texas and Oklahoma.

The House of Representatives on Friday approved wide-ranging legislation to help communities cope with wildfires and drought. It combines 49 separate bills, which would, among other provisions: increase firefighter pay and benefits; boost resiliency and mitigation projects for communities affected by climate change; protect watersheds; and make it easier for wildfire victims to get federal assistance.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill “a major victory for Californians — and for the country,” adding that the bill will deliver “urgently needed resources” to combat fires and droughts, “which will only increase in frequency and intensity due to the climate crisis.”

Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said there are “complicated and multifaceted” reasons for why these fires seem to be more severe.

In the last 100 years, he said, the management of the use of these lands has been geared toward fire suppression, which has led to a lot of vegetation fuel building up over the landscape over time. A lot more people are living in the western United States as well, including communities, Cook added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.