Update 06/15/21 - 5:40 p.m. This is a developing story, this post will be updated as we get more information.
Residents between Townsend and White Sulphur Springs are evacuating after the 180-acre Deep Creek Fire jumped Highway 12 earlier Tuesday afternoon.
Meagher County Sheriff John Lopp says evacuations cover the 60-home Grassy Mountain subdivision and the 130-person Springdale Colony of Hutterites.
Lopp says dry, hot, windy weather caused the fire to spread across the highway.
“It’s burning a lot really fast and really hard.”
The Broadwater County Sheriff’s Office said it was shutting down Deep Creek Canyon as of Tuesday afternoon.
Seventy firefighters with helicopters and other heavy equipment are on the blaze. Officials have requested a Type 1 Incident Management team reserved for complex fires, according to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
The Deep Creek Fire started Sunday on steep, rocky national forest land in the south end of the Big Belt Mountains southeast of Helena. The fire temporarily shut down a stretch of Highway 12 in Broadwater County Sunday. A Forest Service spokesperson said Monday the fire was threatening several cabins and primary homes around the steep and heavily timbered Deep Creek Canyon.
The fire’s cause is under investigation, though forest officials say first responders found a downed power line at the scene.
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