NYE — Evacuations were ordered for the residents of about 150 homes in the southwest section of Stillwater County on Sunday evening due to the Trout Creek Fire burning near Nye, according to a social media update from Stillwater County Disaster and Emergency Services.
Residents who live in the following areas are asked to immediately evacuate: from the intersection of Stillwater River Road and Spring Creek Road, west to Sandy Drive. The subdivisions of Beehive, Midnight Canyon and Grove Creek are included in the evacuation order.
The Red Cross has set up an evacuation site at the Absarokee Firehall, Anipro Arena and The Absarokee Evangelical Church are also available for evacuees.
Questions can be directed to a hotline at 406-322-8047. People are asked to only call dispatch for emergencies.
Click here to view the evacuation area as a map.
The Trout Creek Fire started on Saturday night around 9:30 p.m. It has burned about 2,000 acres of mostly private land and was being driven southeast by wind on Sunday evening, said Tammie Mullikin, Stillwater County public information officer.
“At this point, it’s kind of heading away from the majority of the homes. So if the wind holds and keeps pushing it that direction. We haven’t lost any structures that I’ve been told about. But it is kind of pushing it away from a majority of the homes," Mullikin told MTN News in a telephone interview around 7 p.m. Sunday.
Earlier in the day, two helicopters were helping to fight the blaze. More help came from two bulldozers and firefighters from Columbus, Nye, Absorkee, and Park City, Montana Department of Natural Resource Conservation and U.S. Forest Service, Mullikin said.
Stillwater County Sheriffs Deputies received help from law enforcement in neighboring Sweet Grass County and Carbon County. Mullikin said the law enforcement officers blocked off roads evacuated people from door to door.
Many people didn't receive a reverse 9-1-1 call or message from Stillwater County's CodeRED app.Mullikin encouraged all county residents to sign up for the free app to receive future emergency notifications from the local government. Click here to visit the Stillwater County web site for directions on how to sign up.
More residents in Sweet Grass County were placed under a pre-evacuation notice on Sunday evening. According to a post from Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg, residents in the Stockade and West Bridger Creek are advised to protect their livestock and be prepared to evacuate in the near future.
