Haystack Fire mostly contained, a movable city moves on

Cold temperatures including freezing overnight lows, as well as a dusting of snow early this week, considerably reduced the activity of the Haystack Fire south of Boulder, which stood at 24,011 acres and 88% contained on Monday.

According to an Oct. 7 update from the Butte Ranger District of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, “more of the fire perimeter moves into a patrol and monitor status,” including the northeastern side of the fire nearest to Boulder. Some crews continued to work on increasing containment of the fire, which started on July 30 and smoldered for weeks before exploding and racing toward Boulder last month, while others were repairing areas damaged by the construction of fire lines, according to the district. An Oct. 9 update from the district said that crews were raking surface debris and topsoil back across fire lines to repair the ground.

The district is using the Bull Mountain Rural Volunteer Fire Department’s station south of Boulder as an incident command, and crews are staying in hotels in Butte and Helena, according to Incident Commander Shane Martin, the assistant fire management officer for the district.