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A fire crew from Missoula puts out hots spots on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday near East Helena. DNRC officials said the fire was 84% contained as of Sunday afternoon.
The Matt Staff Road fire 12 miles east of Helena remained at 1,587 acres and is 84% contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to officials with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s County Assist Team.
The Matt Staff Road fire remained at 1,587 acres and was 84% contained as of Sunday afternoon, officials said. Crews continue to work the fire.
“We don’t call it contained until we’ve been all the way around it and are 100% sure it’s stopped and isn’t moving anywhere,” said David Hamilton, the team’s incident commander.
During a media tour of the fire site Sunday, Hamilton said the wind eased up and stopped blowing so hard on Friday afternoon, which gave firefighters an opportunity to make progress fighting the blaze.
Members of the County Assist Team showed where the fire has burned since Thursday during the tour. On Sunday, firefighters could be seen on the crests of hills attending to remaining hot spots. They were helped by pieces of equipment called "skidgers," which look like giant tractors. They're usually used for logging, said Wyatt Frampton, the DNRC's public information officer. But for fires, they carry water.
The charred land ranged across a valley and some hills. Some bigger logs and stumps were still smoking in the blackened area. But most of the Ponderosa pine trees in the valley between the hills remained standing. Hamilton said a fire is good for the trees, which have fire resistant ability and have evolved to handle them. Fire retardant was easy to spot, and the blackened area ended as it approached a pinkish-orangish border on all sides.
Crews work on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday afternoon. The fire is over 80% contained, officials said.
Frampton said the fire was human-caused, but the exact cause remains under investigation by law enforcement. Officials said earlier that some of the firefighting attempts may have covered exact details about what sparked the blaze. According to Frampton, around 75% of fires in Montana last year were human-caused.
As of Aug. 7, estimated expenses from the fire tallied $2.4 million.
The fire started Thursday afternoon very close to Spokane Creek Road, just off U.S. Highway 12 near state Highway 284, and quickly spread. It originally burned grassland, then crested the ridge between East Helena and Canyon Ferry Reservoir and began to burn brush.
All evacuations that resulted from the blaze on Thursday were lifted at 8 p.m. Friday, officials said. The fire hasn’t destroyed any primary structures. It destroyed two old farm structures, but Hamilton said it’s unclear whether they were truly buildings or more akin to piles of wood.
On Friday, fire retardant lines were dropped a couple hundred acres from the fire’s edge, and Hamilton said the retardant did its job.
A fire crew from Missoula works to put out hots spots on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday near East Helena.
“This fire’s a good representation of retardant lines holding the fire from spreading,” Hamilton said.
Some scooper planes brought water from Canyon Ferry Reservoir, aiding the efforts to fight the blaze. The fire was approaching the lake, and Hamilton said having the lake close by, along with the ground conditions, made this an ideal method for fighting the fire.
Frampton said these factors combined with rainy and humid weather on Saturday night, which helped to contain the fire.
Still, a drone in the area caused some issues as the air crew was doing its job on Friday morning. The team had to temporarily suspend its activities dropping retardant when the drone came through the area.
Firefighters could be seen on the crests of hills Sunday attending to remaining hot spots.
That incident is still under investigation, according to Frampton. He said it’s a felony to interfere with firefighting aircraft.
Hamilton said rural and volunteer fire units – like the ones that initially responded to the Matt Staff Road fire – are hugely important in the DNRC’s firefighting efforts. Tri-Lakes Fire Department, Townsend Volunteer Fire Department and the Helena Fire Department all responded quickly when the fire started on Thursday.
“The wind was blowing just enough that we couldn’t get ahead of it,” Hamilton said.
For more information on how to stay safe during fire season and steps you can take to recreate responsibly, you can visit https://www.mtfireinfo.org/
Frampton said it’s important to note that even though it’s been a wet spring in Montana, that doesn’t mean the state won’t have a fire season. It just means it could be a late fire season. He said people should recognize this and recreate responsibly.
For status updates on the Matt Staff Road fire, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8309/. And, for more information about how to stay safe during fire season and steps you can take to recreate responsibly, visit https://www.mtfireinfo.org/.
Mariah Thomas can be reached at mariah.thomas@helenair.com.
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University of Montana student and reporting intern for the Helena Independent Record and Montana State News Bureau
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A fire crew from Missoula puts out hots spots on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday near East Helena. DNRC officials said the fire was 84% contained as of Sunday afternoon.
The Matt Staff Road fire remained at 1,587 acres and was 84% contained as of Sunday afternoon, officials said. Crews continue to work the fire.
Crews work on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday afternoon. The fire is over 80% contained, officials said.
A fire crew from Missoula works to put out hots spots on the Matt Staff Road fire Sunday near East Helena.
Firefighters could be seen on the crests of hills Sunday attending to remaining hot spots.
For more information on how to stay safe during fire season and steps you can take to recreate responsibly, you can visit https://www.mtfireinfo.org/
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