Fire season started in a big way

[SAJ-99]

Early in the morning of July 12 I was waken by the sound of thunder. Just to the south of me was catching a lot of lightning. At one point my wife could smell smoke, but the wind shifted and it was gone. Got up with the sun and there was a big fire ripping to the south. (Deadman fire). My friend from the forest service called and said that the lookout a Poker Jim spotted another start much closer, but could not pinpoint it in the dark, so dad and I went looking for it, but could not find as there was just enough rain to lay it down and the smoke from the Deadman fire made visibility very poor. Figured that it would show up when the day started to get hot. so we got the fire gear ready. The call came at 1:30. Jumped in the Side by side and raced to the top of the hill. On the way up I could see three new starts putting up smoke. In all I think there was close to 15 starts from that storm. From the top of the hill it was obvious that I was out matched with hand tools, so back down the hill to help dad load the D3 cat and get the pickup and sprayer. The fire started on a steep ridge covered in juniper and pine. When I got there, it was just a three man crew from the Custer, two locals and the county road grader. Unfortunately the terrain was just way to steep for the road grader to do much good. We were quickly overwhelmed and made a retreat to the ridges to the south, west and east, where we put in fire line with the road grader and cat. About that time ten smoke jumpers arrived. View attachment 333132
With the help of the smoke jumpers and a favorable wind we were able to hold the east line, not so lucky with the south line and that compromised the west line. There was still no line to the north. That was how the first day ended. The next day we were back at it in the morning we were back at it and with reinforcements, two or three DNRC crews and a D6 cat. We backed off on the south and put in a new line and built line on the north and west. Much of the North side was too rough for the cats, so the smoke jumpers put that line in by hand. The wind was favorable on the east side and we were able to burn out the entire east side and some of the north line.

County road grader putting in line on the north side. Fire jumped this line, but we were able to knock it down and put in another line a few hundred yards up the hill.
View attachment 333133

Burn out on the NE corner. I wouldn't have bet that we would hold that line with the way the pines were torching, but we did.
View attachment 333134

I went home that night about 11:00 that night feeling good. The east side, a mile of the north side and some of the south was black to the line, the fire had for the most part ran into natural barriers to the south and west. The north side was just creeping down hill against the wind to the north.

That changed about 1:00. A dry thunder storm came up from the south and with it 30 mph winds. I got the call from the sheriff office around 1:30 that the fire had jumped the north line and the house was in danger. I knew that they were looking for dad and not me, so I gave them dad's number and started to get dressed. Dad calls me minutes later and says to bring the side by side and we will run up the hill to see how bad it is. He was not that concerned as he had yet to look out the back door. A few minutes later he calls back, now with much more concern. "bring the pumper and git here quick. When I went to sleep the fire was close to two miles from dad's house, When he looked out the back door at 1:30 it was racing down the big hill behind his house. The fire had covered a mile and a half of the two miles in about thirty minutes.Fortunate there is a lot of dirt cliffs and a 1/4 mile of grazed out pasture between the house and the juniper covered hill. The wind shifted with the passing of the thunder storm and the fire for the most part burned out on the dirt banks and green creek bottom. That was the start of Monday.
Looking south at the hill behind dad's house, Not many green trees left. Dad's house is just out of the picture to the east.

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Lots more man power and equipment arrived Monday and the fire fighters were able to put in a new line the north and burn it out.
Burning out the north side of the fire.
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The south side was a different story. With a stiff wind and hot temps behind it the fire raged. About all you could do was set back and watch and try to keep it from jumping the county road.

Pictures from the county road. With the wind mostly blowing parallel to the road we were able to keep the fire from jumping.View attachment 333137View attachment 333138

On Tuesday a fire management team took over and my job shifted to helping neighbors with livestock. There was no stopping the fire.
The McGhee fire on Tuesday evening

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Still put up a lot of smoke today, and I am sure the fire is far from controlled.

Great write-up to give people perspective. Stay safe and good luck.

 

[Big Fin]

Damn, sorry to see that. Glad you and your family are OK.

 

[Nameless Range]

Dang, what a wild week. Hope the family is alright and the burden of fence and grass loss isn't too great.

I'll be interested to hear you observations of country you know better than anyone as it regrows after the burn.

 

[ForkieShooter]

Hoping for the best for you and your neighbors. Appreciate you taking the time to show us all how it's happening on the ground.

 

[Oak]

Glad you are all ok. I "saw" (online) the smokejumpers heading down there from Missoula on Friday. Looked like it could be a big one.

 

[ammo]

Boulder CO just had a small fire already last weekend. Me and husband unit are moving next month from the big city (Denver) (we used to spend winters in the middle of nowhere which I miss) to the mountains (hooray! - but also yipes - fires). Really aware that 'fire season' is going to be thing for us now in a big way.

Hope you're out of the path @antlerradar

 

[antlerradar]

Just curious if they let you fight the fire on public land? Sure hoping there wasn't any issues there. From the sounds of it, lots of people working together!

Fire started on State.

Stay safe! I'm sure the firefighters were happy to have a willing helper, seems like they went from little action this summer to stretched thin...

Once a fire gets big and a lot of firefighters show up, my local experience with the lay of the land is much more valuable then the amount of fire I put out.

 

[Oak]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1814005564885570028

 

[rogerthat]

It’s always something in eastern Montana isn’t it Art! Stay safe!

 

[SAJ-99]

Saw some rain move over the last couple of hours. Hopefully it wasn't just a tease. Humidity is so low I suspect it didn't help much and almost worry that some of bigger storms start more fires than they help with. Hard to comprehend the battle you all are fighting.
Hang in there.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Good to know the main danger has passed for your homes. I’m curious why SE MT seems to be the main place for MT’s biggest fires over the last dozen years. Here in the SW we’ve got a tinderbox that hasn’t burned for so long.

 

[Dubz337]

Stay safe and good luck. They cut wildfire fighting budget here, after some of the worst wildfire years in history.

 

[SwaggyD]

Damn Art. Sorry to see all this. Stay safe out there.

 

[BuzzH]

Good to know the main danger has passed for your homes. I’m curious why SE MT seems to be the main place for MT’s biggest fires over the last dozen years. Here in the SW we’ve got a tinderbox that hasn’t burned for so long.

Way more fine fuels (grass).

 

[Forkyfinder]

Way more fine fuels (grass).

Also moderately higher lightning strike risk - which i believe triggered the fire.

 

[antlerradar]

Saw some rain move over the last couple of hours. Hopefully it wasn't just a tease. Humidity is so low I suspect it didn't help much and almost worry that some of bigger storms start more fires than they help with. Hard to comprehend the battle you all are fighting.
Hang in there.

That one was just a teaser, not sure the rain hit the ground. Right now is different, raining hard, but a lot of wind and lighting to.

 

[antlerradar]

Way more fine fuels (grass).

Buzz is right, combine the grass with juniper and ponderosa pine that has not seen a fire in 100 years and big fires are sure to happen.

 

[Salmonchaser]

We got lit up here in Ne Oregon the last few days. Map shows eastern Oregon and just a little bit of Washington. Fire fighters got their hands full. Blue dot on the map is our place. Kinda Smokey around here.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Good to know the main danger has passed for your homes. I’m curious why SE MT seems to be the main place for MT’s biggest fires over the last dozen years. Here in the SW we’ve got a tinderbox that hasn’t burned for so long.

And finally there is logging just south of Bozeman to remove fuels from the adjacent forest and local watershed for critical Gallatin Valley water supply.
The Gallatin range tinderbox is like a bomb ready to explode.

 

[Forkyfinder]

@antlerradar are you getting hit again?