Month: September 2012

For Immediate Release

(Bozeman, Mont.) Sheriff Gootkin announced today that on Wednesday September 26 starting at 4:00 p.m. there will be an open house at the new Search and Rescue facility in West Yellowstone. The grand opening/tours will be followed by remarks from the County Commission, Sheriff, a representative of Senator Baucus’ Office and other dignitaries.   A Search and Rescue Advisory Board meeting will be held after the festivities.

 The Search and Rescue Building is the last of 3 facilities built to house Montana’s busiest SAR teams.  There are facilities in Bozeman, Big Sky and now West Yellowstone.  The building was funded through the county wide 1 mill levy specifically for Search and Rescue Services.  Total Cost was $439,389.00.   $139,000 came from capital savings within SAR and a $300,000 loan. 

Search and Rescue is a volunteer force of the Sheriff’s Office.  It responds to an average of 100 calls per year. 

“Our community members are very outdoor recreation oriented and value the opportunities this county has to offer.  Our Search and Rescue Teams value our community members and stand always ready to help them out of a bad day.”  Sheriff Gootkin said today.  “The SAR volunteers have outstanding skills and this facility is part of our responsibility to support their important work.”

The building is located at 416 Yellowstone Ave. 

Questions can be directed to Lt. Jason Jarrett at 582-2105######

Bean Canyon Fire Fact Sheet

For Immediate Release

This Will Be the Final Fact Sheet for This Fire

DATE: September 15, 2012            TIME: 15:00 Hours

CONTACT: Kerry O’Connell, 406-582-2092

NUMBER OF ACRES: 4,325

CONTAINMENT: 95%

CAUSE: Lightning

LOCATION: 15 miles northeast of Toston in Gallatin County on private and state land.

STRUCTURES THREATENED: None

ESTIMATED COST TO DATE: $670,000

FUEL TYPE & TOPOGRAPHY: Grass, timber, and brush in steep terrain

JURISDICTION: Gallatin County

ASSISTING ENTITIES: Property owners; Local Fire Departments from Gallatin County; Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; US Forest Service

RESOURCES:
PERSONNEL: 129                SKIDGINES: 2
ENGINES: 15                        HELICOPTERS: 2
WATER TENDERS: 3          FIXED WING AIRCRAFT: 0
BULLDOZERS: 0                  20-PERSON HAND CREWS: 2

CURRENT SITUATION:
        Crews continued mop-up to reinforce containment lines, reaching 95% containment of the fire today.

ACTIONS PLANNED:
      Tomorrow the management will transition to a Type 4 organization. A limited number of personnel will remain to continue mop-up operations and to monitor green islands of unburned timber on the interior of the fire. Mop-up operations are expected to be completed by Tuesday. Management expects the fire to be in patrol status by Wednesday. Resources not needed for mop-up operations will be released Sunday. Most of the resources who are being released will be assigned to new fire starts around the state.
       This will be the last update for this fire. Members of the public may still call 582-2092 for information.

Bozeman, MT…  Fire resources continue to work diligently on the Millie Fire to keep the fire within the established perimeter; with the objective to keep the fire south and west of Cottonwood Creek. Helicopters will continue to work in areas where the use of ground resources are unsafe; at other times assisting firefighters when needed.

The size of the fire remains 10,185 acres, with containment at 75 percent. The fire is currently staffed with 85 personnel including helicopters, engines, handcrews, dozers, watertenders and miscellaneous overhead.

Due to continued hot and dry conditions, smoke from interior burning in the steep and rocky terrain in the upper South Cottonwood drainage may be visible today.  A “local” red flag warning continues to be in effect today for low relative humidity and dry, unstable atmosphere over the fire area.

To continue to provide for public safety during the Millie Fire Incident, Gallatin National Forest would like to notify the public that Hyalite Reservoir is CLOSED to all watercraft.  Aerial resources continue to use the reservoir for suppression operations, and to ensure firefighter and public safety, only fishing and swimming will be allowed along the shore.  The remainder of the Hyalite Recreational area is open for public use.

Enjoy the beautiful weekend with all the recreational opportunities but please stay safe and be cautious of the fire traffic on the roads.

For more information, please contact the Millie Fire Information line at (406) 522-2537.  Information about the BAER assessments, once available, can also be accessed under the Millie Fire at www.inciweb.org.

Bean Canyon Fire Fact Sheet

For Immediate Release

DATE: September 14, 2012 TIME: 22:00 Hours

CONTACT: Kerry O’Connell, 406-582-2092

NUMBER OF ACRES: 4,325

CONTAINMENT: 85%

CAUSE: Lightning

LOCATION: 15 miles northeast of Toston in Gallatin County on private and state land.

STRUCTURES THREATENED: None

ESTIMATED COST TO DATE: $547,000

FUEL TYPE & TOPOGRAPHY: Grass, timber, and brush in steep terrain

JURISDICTION: Gallatin County

ASSISTING ENTITIES: Property owners; Local Fire Departments from Gallatin County; Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; US Forest Service

RESOURCES:
PERSONNEL: 139              SKIDGINES: 2
ENGINES: 17                       HELICOPTERS: 4
WATER TENDERS: 4        FIXED WING AIRCRAFT: 1
BULLDOZERS: 3                20-PERSON HAND CREWS: 2

CURRENT SITUATION:
Crews continued mop-up to reinforce containment lines. The area was under a Red Flag Warning and fire did not cross containment lines today. Heat still remains on the east side and south end of the fire where more resources were assigned for mop-up operations. Management initiated the process to start releasing dozers by tomorrow.

ACTIONS PLANNED:
Crews will continue mopping up from the line, burning out where necessary. Resources will begin to be released this weekend as mop-up is completed on parts of the fire.

Bean Canyon Fire Fact Sheet

For Immediate Release

DATE: September 13, 2012 TIME: 19:00 Hours

CONTACT: Kerry O’Connell, 406-582-2092

NUMBER OF ACRES: 4,325

CONTAINMENT: 68%

CAUSE: Lightning

LOCATION: 15 miles northeast of Toston in Gallatin County on private and state land.

STRUCTURES THREATENED: None

ESTIMATED COST TO DATE: $511,000

FUEL TYPE & TOPOGRAPHY: Grass, timber, and brush in steep terrain

JURISDICTION: Gallatin County

ASSISTING ENTITIES: Property owners; Local Fire Departments from Gallatin County; Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; US Forest Service

RESOURCES:
PERSONNEL: 136               SKIDGINES: 2
ENGINES: 15                        HELICOPTERS: 4
WATER TENDERS: 4         FIXED WING AIRCRAFT: 1
BULLDOZERS: 3                 20-PERSON HAND CREWS: 3

CURRENT SITUATION:
Crews burned islands of unburned timber close to the line today in order to reinforce the containment lines. Firefighters also continued to build line, burning out fuels from the line to the fire in steep difficult terrain. Observed fire behavior included creeping and smoldering with isolated torching in green pockets. Helicopter bucket work continued today in support of firefighters on the ground. A Red Flag Warning is forecast for tomorrow and expected to test containment lines.

ACTIONS PLANNED:
Crews will continue mopping up along the line, burning out where necessary. The southeast corner of the fire will again have the most resources assigned for tomorrow.

Photo of the steep terrain interior of the Bean Canyon Fire.

An interior switchback road in the Bean Canyon Fire.

Burn operations to clean out unburned islands of fuel near the line.

Successful retardant drop that held on the north flank.

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office has had numerous discussions with the United States Forest Service, and as a result of those discussions, we believe it is appropriate to lift all Evacuation Warnings pertaining to the Millie Fire. The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office thanks all of the residents who were affected by these warnings for their cooperation and understanding.

   We wish to remind people that we are still under extreme drought conditions and unforeseeable events can occur.  We will continue to monitor this fire as well as all other emergencies within Gallatin County that may affect our residents and our communities.

  On September 12, 2012, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the Gallatin County Search and Rescue responded to a call of a female who had fallen and had a seizure while hiking near the “M”.  Gallatin County Sheriff’s Deputies, approximately 35 Search and Rescue members, AMR, and the Bridger Canyon Fire Department responded to the call. 

   The female, a resident of Bozeman, was hiking the “M” with her two dogs when she fell and hit her head.  It is unclear if the seizure was a cause of the fall or if the fall was a result of the seizure.  The victim was approximately 300 yards below the “M” on the “hard trail”. 

   The female was transported to the trailhead by Search and Rescue personnel within an hour of responding to the call.  The female was transported by AMR to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital.

   The dogs belonging to the female were scared and ran away from searchers as they tried to retrieve the dogs for the owner.  The husband of the victim who had responded to the area also attempted to catch the dogs, but was unsuccessful. 

 Updated Information: At approximately 2:00 p.m. today, September 13^th, 2012: the dogs were located and are at home with the owners.

Bean Canyon Fire Fact Sheet

For Immediate Release

DATE: September 13, 2012 TIME: 10:30 Hours

CONTACT: Kerry O’Connell, 406-582-2092

NUMBER OF ACRES: 4,321

CONTAINMENT: 25%

CAUSE: Lightning

LOCATION: About 9 miles east of Toston in Gallatin County on private and state land.

STRUCTURES THREATENED: None

FUEL TYPE & TOPOGRAPHY: Grass, timber, and brush in steep terrain

JURISDICTION: Gallatin County

ASSISTING ENTITIES: Property owners; Local Fire Departments from Gallatin County; Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; US Forest Service

RESOURCES:
PERSONNEL: 146                 SKIDGINES: 2
ENGINES: 20                         HELICOPTERS: 4
WATER TENDERS: 4           FIXED WING AIRCRAFT: 1
BULLDOZERS: 3                  20-PERSON HAND CREWS: 3

CURRENT SITUATION:
Crews completed burn out operations on the east side of the fire which resulted in strengthening the containment line from the fire to dozer line yesterday in the Short Gulch area. Crews were also successful in strengthening fire line on the northeast corner of the fire. The southern end of the fire was again the most active and firefighting efforts continue to be challenged by the steep terrain. Helicopters supported crews on the ground with bucket drops on the east and southern parts of the fire.

ACTIONS PLANNED:
Most of the resources will be concentrating on the south end and east side of the fire today where building and strengthening line is the priority. Crews may need to burn out fuels from the fire to the dozer line on the west side of the fire to strengthen the line. On the east side of the fire, crews will burn some interior pockets of fuel that could threaten the line if left unburned. Smoke will be visible during burn out and interior burning operations. Crews will continue to mop up on all sides of the fire where terrain permits safe operations.