CRAIG — It was an active weekend for wildfires north of Helena. The situation at the Ordway Fire near Craig had calmed significantly by Monday, as crews continued to firm up containment and address hot spots.
The Ordway fire has burned around 185 acres as of Monday, about three times larger than the State Capitol complex, and was considered 75% contained. Evacuations ordered were lifted at noon by Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton. The official cause was a debris burn on private property that had escaped.
(WATCH: "Potential for catastrophic fire" — Ordway Fire update)
Under the command of Montana DNRC, more than 70 personnel from multiple agencies worked through the weekend to provide ground and air support to protect homes and keep the fire contained.
“We had the potential for catastrophic fire,” said Wolf Creek / Craig Fire Rescue Chief Rocky Infanger. “And so we were trying to get everything we could on here.”
Wolf Creek / Craig Fire Rescue was the first responding agency. Infanger said the number of fires burning on Friday, with two burning in Jefferson County, limited initial resources.
“Both air resources and manpower was committed to other fires,” Infanger explained. “And they started shifting stuff up here. From the volunteer side, we started calling mutual aid, from both Lewis and Clark and Cascade County.”
To add to the strained resources, seasonal crews for federal and state agencies are not in place yet. Much of the mutual aid from the Lewis and Clark County rural fire departments was diverted back towards Helena to respond to the Rattlesnake Fire, which had also just started north of the Gates of the Mountains and briefly shut down I-15. On Monday, that fire was fully contained and had burned around 47 acres.
Through the weekend at the Ordway Fire, crews established lines, knocked down dangerous trees, dumped and sprayed thousands of gallons of water, and protected structures. No homes were lost.
Infanger noted that a big help for crews protecting structures was that several homes had done significant fire mitigation to their properties, with large defensible spaces.
March might seem early for fire season in Big Sky Country, but people should know wildfires can happen at any point of the year in Montana. You just need the right conditions.
Infanger added that when people are burning, they need to make sure their permit is activated and the ashes are cool to the touch before leaving what they’ve burned.
“Part of that responsibility is making sure your fire is out. You can look at a pile of ashes from a burn, and you may not see nothing,” he explained.
Open burning is currently closed in Lewis and Clark County following the recent fires. Infanger encourages people to continue to take steps to mitigate their properties, and if burning is reopened, to use caution.
The number of personnel working the Ordway Fire will be reduced in the coming days as containment improves, but people will likely continue to see smoke in the area as fuels burn in the interior of the fire.
