HELENA — Strong winds on Saturday prompted the Haystack Fire to make a major run to the northeast, with the fire growing to a total 10,800 acres by Monday morning according to the incident management team. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has reduced the pre-evacuation area. The area north of I-15 (Depot Hill/Boomerang Gulch) is no longer on pre-evacuation notice. Residences near the mouth of the Little Boulder River (west of Highway 69 and north of Boulder Hot Springs) remain under pre-evacuation notice and should be prepared to leave.
Crews have "plumbed" properties in the area near the fire with hosing and sprinklers and will continue to check on those properties daily.
A Type 2 team has been ordered for the fire and will transition from the current Type 3 team on Wednesday.
On the northwest side of the fire, crews are preparing the North Fork Road Area for a strategic burn operation if conditions are favorable. Heavy equipment is working to the north of the fire to tie a contingency line into the fire scar from the 2000 High Ore Fire.
Information will also continue to be shared on the Jefferson Co. Sheriff's Office and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Facebook pages.
The current fire map can be found on the Haystack Fire's Inciweb page.
