With fall weather setting in many fire departments are opening up burning for those with burn permits.  With increased precipitation the ability for individuals to conduct safe fall burning increases, but everyone is reminded to use safe controlled burn practices as large wildfires are still possible.  Anyone wishing to conduct a controlled burn should visit burnpermits.mt.gov to see if your fire department is allowing burning and to activate your burn permit.

The following fire departments are allowing open burning as of Thursday (9/21) at 5:00 pm.

• Big Sky Fire Department
• Belgrade Fire Department
• Bozeman Fire Department
• Central Valley Fire District
• Fort Ellis Fire Service Area
• Gallatin Gateway Fire Department
• Hebgen Basin Fire District
• Hyalite Fire Department
• Manhattan Fire District
• Three Forks Fire Department
• Gallatin River Ranch Fire District
• Willow Creek Fire District

The following fire departments are currently closed to open burning.

• Amsterdam Fire Department
• Bridger Canyon Fire District
• Clarkston Fire Service Area
• Sedan Fire District

Remember to burn safely!  Gallatin County is no stranger to fall wildfires.

Information on safely burning with a burn permit is available at:  https://www.readygallatin.com/community-resources/burn-permits.

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Emergency personnel from several agencies in Gallatin County are currently helping support Sanders County in their response to the Highway 200 Complex Fires.  Over 17,000 acres are currently on fire among several fires in Sanders County along Highway 200 between Trout Creek and Plains.  In this area hundreds on homes are potentially threatened from these fires which are being fueled by dry vegetation and hot weather.

The Western Montana Incident Management Team is currently managing these fires with the participation of the following local personnel:

• Patrick Lonergan, Planning Section Chief (Gallatin County Emergency Management)
• Scott Wuebber, Safety Officer (Central Valley Fire District)
• Bryan Connelley, Liaison Officer (Gallatin County Rural Fire)
• Jim Oberhofer, Liaison Officer (Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, retired)

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office has provided two deputy sheriff’s through the Project Star Program to support the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.  The following deputies are providing assistance with implementation of evacuations:

• Deputy Doug Lieurance
• Deputy Jonathan Olson