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UPDATE: Ash Creek Fire burning over 185,000 acres

Posted: Jul 2, 2012 1:36 PM by MTN News
Updated: Jul 2, 2012 1:36 PM

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UPDATE: The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team will hold a public meeting Monday at the St. Labre auditorium at 3 p.m. All community members are welcome to attend to get an update on fire operations, fire behavior and weather forecasts.

A public meeting will also be held Monday night at Seabeck Theater at 7 p.m. in Broadus.

For more information about the meetings or fire updates visit Inciweb at www.inciweb.org, email ashcreekfireinfo@gmail.com or call fire information staff, at 406-748-3061.

ASHLAND - The Ash Creek Fire in southeast Montana experienced significant fire movement on the eastern flank and has jumped Highway 212 west of Suicide pass.

Fire officials say that nearly 600 people are battling the 185,000 acre blaze and is about 40% contained.

The fire in the Beaver Creek area crossed the containment lines that firefighters worked on during Saturday night's shift and continued toward Little Pumpkin Creek.

New evacuations have been ordered for Sonnette Road on the east and Ten Mile Creek Road on the south.

Previous evacuations have been ordered for the Stacey, Marvell, Little Pumpkin, East Fork of Otter, Wilbur, Whitetail and Beaver Creek areas.

"As long as the fire is in the heavy timber, it is unlikely that we can safely catch it in these weather conditions. We will work on the areas where it is safe, but it may not be until the fire enters into the lighter fuels that we are able to get ahead of it," Incident Commander Tom Heintz said.

Some homes are still threatened by the fire and crews are continuing structure protection efforts. Firefighters continued to mop-up and patrol the north, west and southwest flanks of the fire, which had minimal fire activity Sunday.

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