BOZEMAN – After holding the Millie Fire in check during three days of Red Flag Warnings, the Great Basin Incident Management Team #4 is preparing to turn management of the fire back to the Gallatin National Forest.
A public Fire Information meeting will be held at 6 p.m. today at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman. The meeting will address the current situation and anticipated future developments relating to the Millie Fire.
“We’ve kept it out of the urban interface and the Bozeman watershed,” Incident Commander Tom Suwyn said of intensive efforts to cool the fire in the Cottonwood Canyon drainage. “Using helicopter resources and ground crews over three days of dry, hot and windy weather, fire
fighters have held the fire and we feel pretty confident as we give it back to the Forest.”
The Type II management team arrived after the fire jumped from 750 acres to 8,300 acres on Aug. 29.
The Millie Fire, 20 miles south of Bozeman, is now 60 percent contained at 10,205 acres. It began Aug. 28 with a lightning strike.
The transfer of command on Friday, Sept. 14 involves releasing most of the 344 people assigned to the fire so they can be available for other fires in the country. There will still be more than 100 firefighters assigned to the Millie Fire.
Today, soil and water scientists from the Burned Area Emergency Response team wrap up their survey of fire damage and develop a plan to stabilize severely burned areas, especially in the Storm Castle drainage.
Because the Millie Fire isn’t fully contained, the area closure remains in effect for now. This includes roads and trails in Leverich Canyon, Hyalite Canyon and Sourdough Canyon/Bozeman Creek.
For more information about the meeting or the fire call: (877) 405-0033 or (877) 390-4323. Or visit: inciweb.org/incident/3215/#
