Horse Gulch Fire sees more than 200% increase in deployed personnel

The increase in manpower comes alongside an estimated $6 million firefighting cost to date.

By Zeke Lloyd MONTANA FREE PRESS

By Monday, the fire line around Horse Gulch Fire hosted 465 people working to prevent the spread. The fire remained 0% contained. Jimtown Road and Canyon Ferry Road mark the western and southern edges, respectively, of the 12,797 affected acres. The fire has not crossed those two boundaries, and continues to push eastward, but remains west of Hellgate Gulch. A large number of bulldozer crews and on-foot personnel continue to dig fire lines along that threatened part of the perimeter. 

According to Sarah Rouse, a public information officer with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center, the increase in personnel between Friday and Monday is not reason to think the fire poses an extraordinary threat to the region. 

“Those resources were available at the time,” Rouse said. While firefighters work on the ground and in the air, the specific mode of response depends on the fire’s activity in any particular area. 

“You’ll have a lot more engines and engine crews holding those lines and checking for hotspots along there,” said Rouse. “And then there’ll be an awful lot of folks still constructing line on the eastern side and northeastern side of the fire.” 

The increase in personnel correlates with a jump in the fire’s cost. Estimates on Friday, July 12, put Horse Gulch Fire expenses at $1.3 million. By July 15, that figure had more than quadrupled to $6 million. 

The Horse Gulch Fire also claimed the 2024 Montana fire season’s first casualty on Wednesday, July 10. Juliana Turchetti, an employee of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Wipaire subsidiary Dauntless Air, piloted an Air Tractor AT-802 FireBoss. After scooping water from Hauser Lake, her plane “impacted terrain beside the lake,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board. 

“On behalf of Fire Boss and Wipaire, our employees and our families, today our prayers are with Juliana Turchetti, her family, and her coworkers,” Chuck Wiplinger, Wipaire president and CEO, said in a statement provided to Montana Free Press. “Our company stands ready to work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and the agencies that are investigating this tragic accident. This accident is a terrible loss for the wildland fire fighting community, we all grieve for every loss of a firefighter, especially one of our own.”

The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office has also participated in the ongoing investigation. According to the NTSB, the agency will examine “three primary areas: the pilot, the aircraft and the operating environment.” NTSB plans to release a preliminary report within the next 30 days.