Dual wildfires causing chaos on Montana-Wyoming border

Two major fires are threatening southeast Montana.

The Barber Draw fire sparked Wednesday just northwest of the Tongue River Reservoir and is currently at 8,000 acres in size.

The Remington fire first began in Wyoming but crossed the Montana, Wyoming border Thursday around 6 pm. As of 5:15 p.m. Friday, the fire has burned 128,771 acres. Pre-evacuation orders are still in place for the area south of Ashland to the Rosebud County Line.

The fire has crossed into three different counties: Powder River, Big Horn, and the southern end of Rosebud.

Keith Gerber is the operations chief with Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and said they were originally at Tongue Reservoir for the Barber Draw fire, but the Remington fire quickly took precedent.

“We have close to 120 resources up there on the line for the Barber Draw fire, from smoke jumpers to contract engines, hand crews, dozers, blades,” said Gerber. “As of now, we’re setting up camp to support both the Barber Draw incident, our original team assignment, and potentially some operational support logistics for the Remington fire.”

Photo Gallery: Remington fire burns through Wyoming and Montana

The cause of the fire was determined to be lightning due to recent storms.

“Several recent rounds of moisture have come across Montana and thrown down some very abundant lightning with rain,” said Gerber.

As the fire grows, things are not looking positive for their efforts due to hot temperatures and high winds forecasted for Saturday.

“As large as this fire is, it’s not going to go out tomorrow. We’re going to have to get boots on the ground and folks around the perimeter of the fire to make sure it’s not going to move anywhere,” said Gerber.

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The fires have affected many in the area, including the Tongue River Reservoir Marina. This is the third time they had to order evacuations this summer.

“Being our third evacuation now, the worst part of this is the rentals, because a large part of our sales comes from boat rentals and days like today when the boat ramp is closed. We’re talking a significant amount of money that we have to bring back and missed sales as well,” said Ryan Bogers, the marina’s owner.

Bogers said this has significantly impacted their business, especially when they only have 10 days of their season left. They were hoping to be able to open back up on Friday, but due to the increasing Remington fire, that was not possible.

“It’s definitely concerning, especially when you drive and see black spots along the highway,” said Bogers.

The owner even assisted the fire crews on Thursday fighting fires, who had camps set along the reservoir with multiple aircraft pulling water out of the river.

“Right now, we’re just helping the fire crews out the best we can and let them do what they need to do,” said Bogers.

Fire season has taken a toll for many, and as the fire continues to expand, the future of the season is uncertain.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Bogers.

Additional reporting from Mack Carmack