HELENA — A wildfire was reported west of Helena near Birdseye Road on Wednesday.
Dispatch received calls around 1:30 p.m. about a controlled burn in a ditch on private property off Ferrett Drive that had gotten out of control.
“So somebody was burning vegetation out of their drainage on their ditch alongside the road to help the water flow a little bit better,” said Birdseye Chief Kyle Sturgill-Simon. ”Unfortunately, there's a lot of pretty dry sagebrush around here, and as it got into that, it spread quickly from there.”
(Watch crews knock down fire near Birdseye Road)
Crews quickly went to work knocking down the fire, which burned around 4 acres in total. A DNRC helicopter also provided air support.
Birdseye, Marysville, Fort Harrison VA, Canyon Creek, West Valley and DNRC crews responded to the fire.
Sturgill-Simon says fuel mitigation is important, but urges people to take extra care when using fire.
“We definitely don't want to discourage that, but if you are going to use fire to burn out ditches or burn fuels on the property, it's really important to make sure you have a water source nearby, accessible hand tools, and then don't be afraid to call us out,” explained Sturgill-Simon. “We're always here to help. As soon as you think it might be getting out of your control, let us know.”
