HELENA — UPDATE: As of Wednesday morning, the Horsefly Fire had more than doubled in size, growing to 1,294 acres, according to InciWeb.
The Horsefly Fire, which started around 1:30 p.m. Monday August 5th roughly eight miles east of Lincoln, burned 500 acres of land in a matter of minutes.
The fire is burning rapidly behind the Black Diamond fire near Flesher Pass, but the damage hasn't stopped there.
Fire crews continue their efforts to suppress and limit the spread the Horsefly fire just outside of Lincoln.
The fire has already forced evacuations for more than 20 homes in Flesher, as well as closing the Continental Divide Trail and closing Flesher Pass to cyclists.
Jeni Garcin, Public Information Officer for Incident Management, said, “Big concern right now is people that are traveling on Flesher and hindering crews as their trying to move in and out of there, so we are really asking people to avoid Flesher Pass if they can.
Garcin continued, “We are directing the bicyclists that typically go over the pass; really important that they stay out of the way--there's so many crews, fire crews engines going through there, that safety to the public and our crews is a huge concern right now.”
Tuesday’s efforts utilized air resources, including airtankers and helicopters.
Ground crews were working on a way to find access to the fire, but the terrain and forest health has proven difficult.
Many of the trees have died as a result from beetle kill, which causes the wood to become dry and brittle and poses a significant threat to firefighters.
Lincoln District Ranger, Michael Stansberry, told MTN, “Over the past years, that dead-standing has started to fall to the ground and creates quite a bit of field load. Especially on the ground so when a fire moves through, not only does it have the opportunity to reach those big logs, and create a lot of momentum, with that but it also reaches up into the dead trees that still standing and we get what are called 'crown fires' that move really fast because they get picked up by the wind.”
There is concern that firefighting efforts could be hindered by the expected weather forecast.
A public meeting for the Horsefly fire will be held Tuesday August 6 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Canyon Creek Rural Fire District Station located at 7560 Duffy Lane.
