HELENA — Strong winds on Saturday prompted the Haystack Fire to make a major run to the northeast, with the fire growing to a total 10,800 acres by Monday morning according to the incident management
team.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has reduced the pre-evacuation area. The area north of I-15 (Depot Hill/Boomerang Gulch) is no longer on pre-evacuation notice. Residences near the mouth of the Little Boulder River (west of Highway 69 and north of Boulder Hot Springs) remain under pre-evacuation notice and should be prepared to leave.
![Haystack Fire Sept. 20, 2021](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/464498c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/392x313+0+0/resize/392x313!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F05%2F7a%2Fdf685b144239850ae4a248dea3ba%2Fhaystack.png)
Crews have "plumbed" properties in the area near the fire with hosing and sprinklers and will continue to check on those properties daily.
A Type 2 team has been ordered for the fire and will transition from the current Type 3 team on Wednesday.
On the northwest side of the fire, crews are preparing the North Fork Road Area for a strategic burn operation if conditions are favorable. Heavy equipment is working to the north of the fire to tie a contingency line into the fire scar from the 2000 High Ore Fire.
Information will also continue to be shared on the Jefferson Co. Sheriff's Office and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Facebook pages.
The current fire map can be found on the Haystack Fire's Inciweb page.