Credit: Beau Maciag, DNRC
Fire Season Reaches Powell County
by Jenny McConnaha
Montana’s wildfire season is raging on as the hot, dry weather continues — over 40 fires were burning in Montana Tuesday morning — and the flames have now reached Powell County.
InciWeb, a national incident information system for U.S. fires, showed the Anderson Hill Fire 15 miles southwest of Ovando at 750 acres as of Tuesday morning. The fire is burning in Granite and Powell County and is 90% contained. Seventy people were assigned to the blaze as of Tuesday morning.
The Anderson Hill Fire started on July 15 as a 10 acre burn just southeast of Garnet Ghost Town. Thick timber, downed fuels and steep terrain complicated firefighting efforts, according to InciWeb. The Bureau of Land Management subsequently closed but has since reopened the ghost town. Evacuation warnings and orders, along with closures, are still in place. Roughly 20 Granite County residents have been evacuated.
One Powell County resident is under an evacuation warning, according to the county’s Sheriff Gavin Roselles.
The cause of the Anderson Hill Fire is still under investigation, but incident command estimates containment by noon today.
The Goat Fire is burning 16 miles west of Deer Lodge on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. It is currently in Granite County but sits near the Powell County border, currently nested in a bowl within the Flint Creek Range.
The fire was listed at 97 acres on Tuesday morning, with almost 40 people working the incident. The fire’s InciWeb update said it was initially detected through satellite imagery and started from a lightning strike on July 11.
Sheriff Gavin Roselles is watching these and two more fires as potential problems for Powell County.
The Dry Cabin Fire is currently burning 20 miles north of Ovando in Lolo National Forest. It was just under 2,400 acres as of Tuesday morning, and the nearest structure was seven miles away.
“It is in the Scapegoat Wilderness, but it’s in an area that folks in Ovando are very familiar with and it obviously covers some ground that they recreate in,” Roselles said.
The Mount Princeton Fire nearly is slightly northwest of the Goat Fire and fairly new. It is small and the U.S. Forest Service is not very concerned, according to Roselles, but current conditions have the sheriff cautious.
Smoke from these multiple wildfires is filtering into Deer Lodge Valley, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality reported varying levels of air quality around Powell County Tuesday morning. While the county does not have an air monitoring station within its borders, nearby stations show Seeley Lake’s air quality as moderate, Helena’s as unhealthy for sensitive groups and Butte’s as unhealthy.
There are six air quality levels ranging from “Good” to “Hazardous.”
The growing wildfire season prompted Powell County to move to Stage 2 fire restrictions last week. This means that all campfires are prohibited, as is operating vehicles off designated roads and trails according. Stage 2 also bans the operation of equipment using internal combustion engines from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. For all current restrictions, visit www.mtfireinfo.org
The restrictions are necessary, according to Roselles. In June and July, the county responded to several fires started in Interstate 90 medians and a piece of haying equipment started a fire west of Deer Lodge this month.
“The response to that was phenomenal,” Roselles said.
The fire was contained thanks to quick action by the Deer Lodge Volunteer Fire Department, the Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department and the Powell County Sheriff’s Office, but the equipment did sustain damage.
With Stage 2 restrictions in place, the sheriff’s office and Deer Lodge Police Department are also responding to campfires. The police have dealt with several backyard fires, Roselles said, while the sheriff’s office has had several calls about Browns Lake.
“When we talk to people, they’ve been real good at extinguishing the fires and we’re treating it as a learning experience,” he explained. “We’re not out to ticket everybody.”
The City of Deer Lodge is also still under its watering restrictions. Manual watering is limited from to 5-9 p.m. and automatic sprinklers are limited to 12-4 a.m. on odd- or even-numbered dates, depending on the resident’s address number. There is no watering on the 31st of any month until restrictions are lifted.
by Jenny McConnaha
Montana’s wildfire season is raging on as the hot, dry weather continues — over 40 fires were burning in Montana Tuesday morning — and the flames have now reached Powell County.
InciWeb, a national incident information system for U.S. fires, showed the Anderson Hill Fire 15 miles southwest of Ovando at 750 acres as of Tuesday morning. The fire is burning in Granite and Powell County and is 90% contained. Seventy people were assigned to the blaze as of Tuesday morning.
The Anderson Hill Fire started on July 15 as a 10 acre burn just southeast of Garnet Ghost Town. Thick timber, downed fuels and steep terrain complicated firefighting efforts, according to InciWeb. The Bureau of Land Management subsequently closed but has since reopened the ghost town. Evacuation warnings and orders, along with closures, are still in place. Roughly 20 Granite County residents have been evacuated.
One Powell County resident is under an evacuation warning, according to the county’s Sheriff Gavin Roselles.
The cause of the Anderson Hill Fire is still under investigation, but incident command estimates containment by noon today.
The Goat Fire is burning 16 miles west of Deer Lodge on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. It is currently in Granite County but sits near the Powell County border, currently nested in a bowl within the Flint Creek Range.
The fire was listed at 97 acres on Tuesday morning, with almost 40 people working the incident. The fire’s InciWeb update said it was initially detected through satellite imagery and started from a lightning strike on July 11.
Sheriff Gavin Roselles is watching these and two more fires as potential problems for Powell County.
The Dry Cabin Fire is currently burning 20 miles north of Ovando in Lolo National Forest. It was just under 2,400 acres as of Tuesday morning, and the nearest structure was seven miles away.
“It is in the Scapegoat Wilderness, but it’s in an area that folks in Ovando are very familiar with and it obviously covers some ground that they recreate in,” Roselles said.
The Mount Princeton Fire nearly is slightly northwest of the Goat Fire and fairly new. It is small and the U.S. Forest Service is not very concerned, according to Roselles, but current conditions have the sheriff cautious.
Smoke from these multiple wildfires is filtering into Deer Lodge Valley, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality reported varying levels of air quality around Powell County Tuesday morning. While the county does not have an air monitoring station within its borders, nearby stations show Seeley Lake’s air quality as moderate, Helena’s as unhealthy for sensitive groups and Butte’s as unhealthy.
There are six air quality levels ranging from “Good” to “Hazardous.”
The growing wildfire season prompted Powell County to move to Stage 2 fire restrictions last week. This means that all campfires are prohibited, as is operating vehicles off designated roads and trails according. Stage 2 also bans the operation of equipment using internal combustion engines from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. For all current restrictions, visit www.mtfireinfo.org
The restrictions are necessary, according to Roselles. In June and July, the county responded to several fires started in Interstate 90 medians and a piece of haying equipment started a fire west of Deer Lodge this month.
“The response to that was phenomenal,” Roselles said.
The fire was contained thanks to quick action by the Deer Lodge Volunteer Fire Department, the Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department and the Powell County Sheriff’s Office, but the equipment did sustain damage.
With Stage 2 restrictions in place, the sheriff’s office and Deer Lodge Police Department are also responding to campfires. The police have dealt with several backyard fires, Roselles said, while the sheriff’s office has had several calls about Browns Lake.
“When we talk to people, they’ve been real good at extinguishing the fires and we’re treating it as a learning experience,” he explained. “We’re not out to ticket everybody.”
The City of Deer Lodge is also still under its watering restrictions. Manual watering is limited from to 5-9 p.m. and automatic sprinklers are limited to 12-4 a.m. on odd- or even-numbered dates, depending on the resident’s address number. There is no watering on the 31st of any month until restrictions are lifted.
