Fire Fact Sheet 9/26/09 7 Pm
Incident: Macdonald Pass Fire Wildfire
Released: 9/26/2009
DAILY INFORMATION FACT SHEET
DATE: September 26, 2009 TIME: 1900 hrs
INCIDENT: MacDonald Pass Fire
INFORMATION OFFICER: Patrick McKelvey PHONE: 406-459-8225
LOCATION: 6 Miles Southwest of Helena, Montana
JURISDICTION: U.S. Forest Service, Baxendale VFD
APPROXIMATE SIZE: 300 acres
INCIDENT COMMANDER: Unified Command with Leo Dutton Lewis & Clark County Sheriff, Marvin Carpenter, Helena Ranger District and Dave Mason, Baxendale Fire Department.
AGENCIES: USFS, MT-DNRC, Lewis & Clark County Sheriff, L&C County Rural Fire Council,BIA.
RESOURCES:
PERSONNEL: 159
ENGINES: 16 Water tenders: 9
HEAVY EQUIPMENT: Bulldozer 1, Feller-Buncher 2,
HELICOPTERS: 3 (1 heavy, 2 Medium)
AIR TANKERS: 2 assigned to the fire
HAND CREWS: (1) Type I, (3) Type II
A human caused fire, the MacDonald Pass fire is burning Southwest of Helena, Montana. No injuries to date.
Terrain and topography combined with large continuous areas of mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole pine have created the potential for significant fire activity.
Evacuations are still in effect for the immediate area of Clausen Road at the base of MacDonald Pass. Residents of Rimini and Colorado Gulch have been alerted to the potential for an evacuation warning. No further evacuations are contemplated for this evening.
The predicted increase in fire activity for this afternoon did not occur, at least at the level officials had feared. It is hoped that cooler temperatures and higher humidity tonight will aid suppression efforts. Weather forecast for tonight indicates a low of 40 degrees and relative humidity at 38-43%.
More firefighting equipment has been ordered, including 5 engines and heavy equipment. Five additional hand crews have been ordered. A Northern Rockies Type II Incident Management Team has been ordered to assume management of the fire.
Approximately 200 concerned citizens of the area attended a public meeting at the Baxendale Volunteer Fire Dept hall. Another meeting will be held tomorrow night at the same location at 7:00 p.m.
SPECIAL CONCERNS: Lewis and Clark County officials again asked residents to avoid Highway 12 West if possible to avoid creating traffic hazards. Protection of the City of Helena water treatment plant is a high priority, and the City water collection infrastructure.
MORE INFORMATION: Incident information can be found at 447-1605 (County Emergency Operations Center), or on www.inciweb.org.
