Sunday Morning Update on Bridger Foothills Fire
The Bridger Foothills Fire continues to burn in Gallatin Canyon. As of this morning, the fire has reportedly burned over 11,000 acres (it has since been downgraded to 7,000 acres). According to the United States Forest Service, an infrared flight was flown on Saturday night to determine acres and a more accurate fire perimeter.
A fire management team from Wyoming and Colorado are expected to join firefighters on Sunday and Monday. Currently, there are over 100 firefighters who are battling the blaze. There have been some firefighter injuries reported over the two days of battling this fire.
Firefighters have their eyes on the weather, which right now looks like it is in their favor. Temperatures will drop into the 80s today with high relative humidity, and a cold front is expected to start moving in today, bringing rain for a period on Monday.
Fire officials have not said what started the fire, which began on Friday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., just above the "M" on the west side of the Bridgers above Bozeman. The fire had only burned about 400 acres as of Saturday morning, but record high temps and high winds helped to spread the fire over to the east side of the Bridgers by late Saturday morning.
Many homes and structures have been lost, and residents of Bridger Canyon were evacuated on Saturday afternoon.
We are expecting a further update from Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin later this morning.