The Sheep Creek wildfire burning southeast of Basin in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest grew to about 400 acres by Tuesday.
The fire, first located on Sept. 22, is located in a rugged mountain area and has been fueled by downed beetle-kill timber and strong gusty winds. A Red Flag Warning was in effect until early Saturday morning, with winds blowing drift smoke into the Boulder Valley most of the day on Friday.
Fire managers identified critical values to protect, and enlisted the help of local volunteer fire departments for structure protection. “Volunteer fire departments from Basin, Boulder/Bull Mountain, Jefferson City, and Clancy, in addition to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, will be working with Beaverhead-Deerlodge firefighting resources to prepare and protect values at risk,” county DES Coordinator Doug Dodge reported in a news release on Oct. 4.
Fire managers expressed concern that weather conditions — particularly the wind — posed a threat the fire may reach the interstate. Fire behavior analysts estimated a chance of between 5% and 20% that the fire would reach Interstate 15 within the next ten days, according to Dodge. Local roads in the area have been closed to assist firefighting efforts. By Sunday, however, that risk appeared to have diminished.
Official information from Inciweb states the fire was discovered around noon on Sept. 22. The cause was determined to be hold-over from lightning associated with a storm that passed through the area on Sept. 17. Some 150 firefighters have been assigned to the incident.
About a quarter of the firefighters are assigned to full suppression activities, with the remainder of the forces monitoring fire development and structure protection. Incident Commander Jason Willoughby from the U.S. Forest Service reported Tuesday that the fire was 38% contained and said “crews will continue working on a fuel break along the Boulder River Road towards Lady Smith Gulch.”
