Single Publication

Start Date & Location: July 9, 2024,    5 miles south of York, MT

Cause: Human, under investigation         Size: 15,167 acres         Containment: 95%

Key message

A critical fire weather watch has been forecasted for the next few days due to high temperatures, gusty winds, and low relative humidity levels over the fire area. Thunderstorms are also a possibility which could bring lightning to the area.  With the fire scaling down and an increased need for fire fighters on fires in other parts of the state and region, the Northern Rockies Team 2 will be leaving today and the fire will be transitioning to a Type 3 organization managed by local Type 3 under Incident Commander, Anthony Emacio.   

Current Status

Yesterday the containment continued to increase as crews focused on mop-up operations to put out any leftover heat along the northern portion of the fire.  Today and going forward, suppression repair will continue on all areas of the fire as crews and equipment will be used to repair fire lines. This will help mitigate any heavy rainfall events before vegetation can be established on those lines.  Heavy equipment will also be utilized to repair roads that were heavily used by crews to access the fire so that those roads are left better than when the fire started. Crews will also continue to monitor and patrol the fire line and mitigate any residual heat near control lines.

Looking Forward

While the fire is nearly contained, there will continue to be pockets of low intensity, smoldering fire burning throughout the interior of the fire. It is unlikely that these pockets would pose a significant risk of escaping control lines.  However, there will likely be visible smoke until the area receives significant moisture events.  While this may cause some concern for local residents, this is normal. From an air quality perspective, poor air quality is forecasted to continue in the area throughout the week. This smoke is primarily being generated by Canadian wildfires and other fires thought the northwest.  Going forward, updates may not be published every day, but email and phones will be staffed for inquires.  Inciweb (inciweb.nwcg.gov) continues to be the single best source of current information for this and all fires across the country.

Evacuations and CLosureS

Evacuations: Effective 7/19/24, all evacuation warnings have been lifted.

Road Closure: Residents only access on Jimtown Road from Riverside Road to Trout Creek Road and on Black Bear Road. All other roads including Canyon Ferry Road are open, except roads within the fire perimeter.

Forest Closure: The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest closures remain in place around the fire area. Details can be found at Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest - Home (usda.gov)

Campground Closure: The Vigilante Campground, within the forest closure area, remains closed. As of 7/19/2024, all other campgrounds are now reopened. 

BLM Closure: The Butte Field Office has issued a closure on BLM lands near the fire area. https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-publication/mthlf-horse-gulch-fire/signed-blm-area-closure-07-14-2024 

FIRE RESTRICTIONS Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Stage 1 Fire Restriction Information can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/hlcnf/alerts-notices/?aid=89019