Smoke Watch: Tracking the Horse Gulch Fire

Northeast of Helena nearly 11,000 acres have been engulfed by a forest fire with zero containment. The Fire Incident Command in charge is the Northern Rockies Team 8, spearheading fire crews of 200 strong including air support personnel. First reported on July 9th 2024, the Horse Gulch fire spread rapidly over July 10th-11th due to dense timber heavy with dead wood and dry hot weather conditions. The Helena Lewis & Clark National Forest has issued a Closure Order for the National Forest System around the fire area, including the Hellgate Campground. The more intense areas of the fire are along the northern and eastern parameters, but winds are expected to change in a southwest direction. Fire crews have fortified the fire line on the south and west borders in anticipation of these changes. Hot windy conditions are expected to continue through the weekend. No homes or property structures have been lost. Centered about 5 miles from York and 2 miles north of Canyon Ferry, the fire has resulted in the authorities evacuating the populations of Cave Gulch and Magpie Gulch on Thursday. The evacuation region encompasses Jimtown road and York road up to the Vigilante Campground as well as north and south of Canyon Ferry road. The Canyon Ferry road closure extends from Canyon Ferry Village to Hellgate Gulch and to approximately 1.5 miles inside of Broadwater County. All roads between are now closed. On the York side, all of Jimtown road is closed from York Road to the Vigilante Campground. This includes the closure of all feeder roads from the York-Jimtown road intersection to the campground itself. Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton has issued the following public statement, “Because of the fire situation, we are only allowing people to enter the fire area for life sustaining materials. And for a very short time. Do not show up wanting to just go look at your house. Sorry, time does not allow us to do that. If you need life sustaining items or something of that nature we will do our best to help. We are evaluating these on a case-by-case basis.” The Sheriff’s office also held a public meeting regarding the Horse Gulch Fire on Thursday night (July 11th) at East Helena High School discussing the depth and spread of the fire, the efforts at containment, and the situation for evacuation support. The American Red Cross has set up a temporary evacuation and emergency support center at Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church on 3580 N Benton Street in Helena. The volunteers there are providing water, snacks and other essential-comfort supplies to the evacuees and those affected by the fires. All Red Cross Disaster services are at no cost. For fire information call 406-924-3858. For evacuation information call 406-457-8800. For those wishing to donate food and supplies, the Safeway at 611 N Montana Ave in Helena is accepting food, clothing, water, and other essentials for the relief efforts. In terms of monitoring the smoke in other areas, the local Air Quality Index (AQI) can be found on Weather apps, Smoke Sense app, and at www.AccuWeather.com or on www.iqair.com. These sites provide further information regarding the degree of smoke particles in the air, and what the different health categories mean (healthy, unhealthy, very unhealthy, hazardous, etc.). In terms of Great Falls, the AQI has been ranging from around 49 to the mid-60s from the ambient smoke— which is in moderate range and is generally acceptable for most populations but may affect some sensitive individuals such as those with cardiac and/or pulmonary conditions. For further information go to https://www.montanawildfiresmoke.org/todays-air.html.

Smoke Watch: Tracking the Horse Gulch Fire

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