The Forest Service rushed to the rescue in backcountry hills west of Montana City last week.
Southwest Montana rarely faces greater fire risk than in early fall following a dry summer, which means the Forest Service workers conducting a prescribed burn along Travis Creek on Sept. 24 were little surprised when informed of an emerging nearby wildfire.
Nearly 40 of the 55 FS staffers at Travis Creek hustled a mile eastward to put out the new fire along Newton Road, which “would have threatened several homes in the area if not for the quick response from adjacent prescribed burn resources that quickly mitigated the threat,” Forest Service Public Affairs Officer Chiara Cipriano told The Monitor.
The wildfire, which a neighboring property owner said had been sparked by debris from a nearby private burn, grew to 46 acres as of Thursday, but had been all but extinguished by Monday.
No injuries were reported and no structures were damaged. In addition to the Forest Service, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and Montana City and Clancy volunteer fire departments responded to the call.
Cipriano described the prescribed burn of School House RX units at Travis Creek as successfully removing excess fuels across 187 acres of Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest.
