Fire Breaks Out Northwest of Divide, Mont.
Incident: Pump Station Wildland Fire
Released: 7/31/2008
Dillon, MONT., July 31, 2008, 6:30 p.m.-Firefighters rolled out Thursday afternoon to a fire two miles northwest of Divide, Mont., in Charcoal Gulch.
The fire is about 18 miles southwest of Butte and just north of Montana Highway 43.
It's burning on private land and on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
It's called the "Pump Station" fire.
By 6 p.m. Thursday (July 31) the Pump Station fire had burned 60-65 acres of mostly grass and threatened an estimated 15 homes.
The fire was first reported at about 1:30 p.m.
By evening, the fire was moving east and firefighters were working to keep it away from structures that lay in the fire's path.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Five air tankers-two single engine air tankers and three larger multi-engine tankers-all based in Helena, were making retardant drops of the fire Thursday evening.
Three helicopters were assisting along with a lead plane for the air tankers and an "air attack" airplane.
Wildland fire engines included three from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in Anaconda; one from DNRC in Dillon; and two Forest Service engines, from Wise River and from Butte.
These engines included about 20 firefighters.
Forty more firefighters have been ordered.
Structure fire engines and water tenders were coming from the Butte, Rocker, Melrose, Racetrack, and Boulevard fire departments.
A "unified command" was being organized by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, DNRC, and Butte-Silver Bow.
Fire danger in Southwest Montana is "high" to "very high."
Officials use a five-step scale to describe how readily fires will spread. The five fire-danger ratings are low, moderate, high, very high, and extreme.
The rating is based on wind, temperatures, and moisture in grasses, shrubs and trees.
-30-
