Three large wildfires burning in Montana as weather stubbornly hovers around triple digits

A column of smoke rises from the Miller Peak fire on July 16, 2024 (Photo courtesy of Northern Rockies incident command).

As of Tuesday, three large active fires in Montana had spread across more than 46,000 acres, or a combined area of more than 70 square miles. The three fires — Deadman (which includes four different fires), Horse Gulch, and Miller Peak, also span the state as forecasters call for very high temperatures coupled with wind — dangerous fire conditions that may continue into next week.

The largest of the fires in southeastern Montana, Deadman, are actually four different fires (Deadman, McGhee, Prairie and Four Mile) that cover more than 31,000 acres and were started by lightning on July 12 and 13. As of the mid-morning, the fires were less than 25% contained in total. The fires are located south of Birney and north of the Tongue River Reservoir in Big Horn and Rosebud Counties, with the Bureau of Land Management, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as well as Rosebud and Big Horn counties battling the fires.

The BLM reported that crews had conducted several burnouts along the north area of the McGhee fire, which had grown to 3,553 acres as of Monday. Those efforts were also supported by large air tankers also doing fire retardant drops.

Big Horn County authorities have issued an evacuation warning to residents from the intersection of Dale Creek Road and East For Canyon Road south to the intersection of Birney Road and Montana Highway 314; from the intersection of Highway 314 and Birney Road east to the county line. In Rosebud County, an evacuation warning is in place for residents along the Tongue River Road from the Tongue River Bridge at Wall Creek to the southern Rosebud County line.

Horse Gulch Fire

The human-caused Horse Gulch fire continued to grow north of Helena and five miles south of York, Montana. On Tuesday morning, officials reported the fire grew to 13,299 acres. The fire was at 10% contained. More than 600 personnel were working the fire.

Residents who had previously been displaced were allowed to go back home, but remained under an evacuation warning, and much of the area is still closed to the public, including Canyon Ferry Road from Canyon Ferry Village to the Broadwater County line.

The fire suppression includes hand lines on the northeast portion of the fire that was inaccessible to heavy equipment. Authorities also connected those lines with existing “dozer lines” created to stop the fire. Some mop-up and hot-spot monitoring has begun, according to the Tuesday update.

“Aerial support to firefighters on the ground was key to the progress made on the Horse Gulch Fire,” said the update from the Northern Rockies National Incident Management Team.

Even though there is a slight chance of rain in the forecast for later into Tuesday or Wednesday, the command team said it will “bring a very small potential for any impact on fire activity.” Meanwhile, forecasters are calling for possible thunderstorms and temperatures reaching beyond the 90s into the low 100s.

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest have closed some areas close to the fire, and the BLM has closed some lands near the fire area as well.

Miller Peak Fire

The Miller Peak fire began on Sunday and is in Lolo National Forest. Commander Joe Sampson said the cause of the fire is still not know.

Authorities said the priority for the fire, which stood at 0% containment on Tuesday morning, has been protecting homes and structures in the Miller Creek drainage area as well as “the Interstate 90 corridor, critical energy infrastructure/powerlines, and communications towers on Miller Peak.”

The fire had grown to 1,760 acres in size with 134 crew members, nine engines, two helicopters and one hand crew on site.

“Steep slopes, rugged terrain and the extremely active fire behavior all pose challenging situations for firefighters on the ground,” officials said.

Weather forecasters predict very hot and very dry weather, including a 10-20% chance for a thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon, which could bring more headaches for firefighters because that means gusty, erratic winds and little precipitation.

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