THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE MADISON VALLEY, RUBY VALLEY AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Three lightning started fires in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

Madison Valley Rural Fire Department first on scene

Lightning strikes courtesy of a storm that blew in Wednesday evening in the Madison Valley started three small fires in the Madison and Gravelly Ranges.

One is near mile marker nine, close to the intersection between U.S. 287 and U.S. 87, and the other two are close to Hidden Lake, or not far from the Lobo Mesa Fire that started late last year.

Many people reported the smoke, and Madison Valley Rural Fire Department was the first crew on scene. Due to the late hour and the necessary climb up to the fires, management was handed off to the Forest Service at 11 p.m. on Wednesday night. The Forest Service hiked up to the fires on Thursday morning and staged on a property below the fire.

A storm on Thursday sparked a new lightning-started fire in Yellowstone National Park that crews are attending to now, with helicopters and smoke jumpers.

“Each of these fires, they’re not even a tenth of an acre,” Director of Disaster and Emergency Services for Madison County Joe Brummell said. With reg flag conditions throughout the state—low humidity, dryness and forecasted winds—storms bring relief, but lightning strikes are cause for concern.

“Just be careful out there,” Brummell said. He advised drivers with chains on their trailers to keep them from dragging on the road and highly recommends no fireworks use this Fourth of July.

The three fires in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and the lightning started fire in Yellowstone have no containment percentage reported yet.

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The Madisonian

65 N. MT Hwy 287
Ennis, MT 59729
406-682-7755
www.madisoniannews.com

Cori Koenig, editor: editor@madisoniannews.com
Susanne Hill, billing: s.hill@madisoniannews.com 
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