Overview
Big Sky is located halfway between the Gallatin Valley and West Yellowstone with a resident population of around 2500 people and frequently a tourist population of an additional 15,000. The community is unincorporated with part in Gallatin County and part in Madison County. Most of the government services are provided by Gallatin County to the entire area.
Travel
Access to Big Sky is solely via US 191 from Four Corners in the North or West Yellowstone in the South. This is a two-lane road with congested traffic that often moves slowly. There are very few passing opportunities, so plan to take your time. Most of the route in the mountains does not have cellular coverage. All regular access to the Big Sky area is on US 191, there is a private road West to Ennis that is available in emergencies.
Communications
In most of the developed areas of Big Sky there is decent cellular coverage with the large providers, but the system does frequently get bogged down. There are definitely places in the developed area with less than stellar coverage and coverage outside of developed areas is definitely hit and miss, or non existent.
Public Safety Agencies
Law Enforcement
- Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office https://gallatincountysheriff.com/
Fire Protection
- Big Sky Fire Department https://bigskyfire.org/
- Yellowstone Mountain Club Fire Department https://www.ymcfd.com/
- Custer Gallatin National Forest https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/custergallatin/fire
Dispatch
- Gallatin County 911 https://www.gallatinmt.gov/228/911-Dispatch-Center
Emergency Management
- Gallatin County Emergency Management https://www.readygallatin.com
Emergency Notifications
All of Big Sky is serviced by Gallatin County’s Community Notification System. Visitors in Big Sky have two options to receive emergency information.
- Visitors can opt in on a per visit basis for text messages by texting “BIGSKY” to 888777. Only large scale emergency information affecting the entire community will be sent by this method. Opt in users are automatically removed on a monthly basis.
- Download the Everbridge Public Safety app for your smart device. You will need to create an account, but you will receive geo targeted location specific notifications anyplace in Gallatin County. You also have the ability to register addresses to receive notifications affecting those locations when you aren’t present.
More on Big Sky evacuations is available at https://www.readygallatin.com/visitors/big-sky-evacuation-information/.
Medical Services
The Bozeman Health Big Sky Medical Center is located along the Spur Road as you first come into Big Sky. The Medical Center offers a 24/7 emergency room as well as routine medical services. It is affiliated with Bozeman Deaconess Health Hospital in Bozeman.
The Big Sky Medical Center also operates a B2 Urgent Care seasonally at the Mountain Village inside the Big Sky Resort Ski Patrol Building.
Big Sky Identified Hazards
The following are the identified hazards present in the Big Sky community.
More information on hazards present in Gallatin County can be located in the resident section of this website.