Lincoln firefighters lend a hand with North Hills Fire

The Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department provided support to agencies battling the North Hills Fire near Helena, but with fire season ramping up and warm, dry weather in the forecast Lincoln Fire Chief Zach chose not to commit department resources to the fire for a full 14-day tour.

Muse told the BVD they have been providing assets on a day-to-day basis to help battle the blaze North of Helena, but want to ensure they have their assets available to respond to any fires that may pop up in the Lincoln area.

Muse and volunteer firefighter Tater Davis spent Sunday on the fire with a Type 6 Brush Truck, helping with structure protection and supporting firefighters from the Forest Service and Montana DNRC as well as the East Valley, Tri-Lakes, Baxendale and West Valley Volunteer Fire Departments.

They spent much of Sunday monitoring the fire while air tankers were busy dropping slurry, then spent the evening on patrol.

"We patrolled looking for spots across the road, waiting for it to come down where we could hit it. About 2200 it came down and started running toward structures, so we had get in and knock it down and put out spots on other side of line" Muse told the BVD in an e-mail.

He said the fire got very active at about midnight, but by 1:30 a.m. activity had died down, which allowed them to strengthen their lines for the night and return to Lincoln.

Lincoln Fire Captain Merle Hoerner headed out with an LVFD tender on both Monday and Tuesday to help supply water to the engines protecting structures near the fire's perimeter.

A Type 2 Incident Management Team assumed command of the North Hills Fire Monday. Once they get all their resources in place, Muse said they will take over and likely release any LVFD assets working on the fire.

The North Hills Fire flared up in the hills west of Hauser Dam Friday, July 26 and expanded to more than 4,600 acres by Tuesday morning, threatening structures in the Timber Trail, El Dorado Heights, and American Bar areas. The fire led to evacuations of White Sandy and Black Sandy campgrounds and homes in the Timber Trail area north of Lake Helena.

As of Monday, the North Hills Fire was listed at zero percent containment, although no structures had been lost.

Locally, Lincoln is drying out quickly. There have been Red Flag warnings across much of Montana during the last week, including the Rocky Mountain Front, but they haven't included Lincoln yet. That could change quickly. Consistent rains through July helped keep fire danger in the Lincoln area at Moderate, but warm, dry weather over the last few days, coupled with a forecast calling for continued dry weather with highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s, pushed the fire danger here back up to High.