Single Publication

Incident Commander: Richard Griffin (Type 3 IC) and Kyle Errecart (Type 3 IC Trainee)
Location: 15 miles northeast of Wisdom, MT in the Sawlog Creek drainage
Start Date: 05/01/2025
Cause: Undetermined – under investigation
Size: 2,020 acres  
Resources Assigned: 4 crews; 2 engines; 1 helicopter; 1 water tender; 1 skidgen
Total Personnel: 160
Containment: 90%
 

CURRENT STATUS/PLANNED ACTIONS:
Firefighters progressed with patrol and mop-up of hot spots along the western edge of the fire, in their efforts to increase containment. Crews and smokejumpers broke down their “spike camps” near the fire and returned to ICP with their gear and supplies. A helicopter assisted with cargo operations, taking advantage of a two-hour window of weather conditions conducive to flying. The UAS module completed several infrared (IR) heat-seeking missions to locate and map hot spots along the fire perimeter. Resource advisors from the BLM and FS coordinated efforts to develop a repair plan based on their assessment of natural resource impacts due to suppression operations.

Crews will continue to patrol containment lines and mop up areas of residual heat. Firefighters will assess an area northeast of the fire in the Walker Creek drainage that ties into a previously used fireline for the Alder Fire of 2021. The helicopters, housed in Butte for weather and safety, may relocate to Wise River Helibase, pending weather conditions. Excess resources no longer needed will demobilize and return to home units over the next few days.

WEATHER, FUELS, AND FIRE BEHAVIOR:
Several showers and thunderstorms passed through the vicinity in the last 24 hours, but little to no precipitation fell over the fire. Gusty winds up to 40 mph materialized as the storms blew through. Today’s weather calls for temperatures in the 60s, with a 10% chance of wetting rains and gusty winds from the southwest up to 35 mph. Widespread precipitation and wetting rains are expected Tuesday, as a low-pressure system moves through.

Fire behavior was limited to mostly creeping; interior pockets of unburned fuel may continue to smolder, producing small amounts of smoke. The fire is burning mainly in sagebrush and Lodgepole pine timber. The north-facing slopes in the area consist of a high “dead and downed” fuel component in a mixed conifer forest, and numerous “snags” or hazard trees are present. This fuel combination poses additional hazards for firefighters, affecting on-the-ground progress. Fuel conditions, during this time of year (pre-green up), are extremely dry.

The fire footprint from the 2021 Alder Fire is located to the east, and the fire footprint from the 2021 Christensen Fire lies to the south.

CLOSURES:
The Montana Fish, Wildfire and Parks has issued an emergency site closure for the Fishtrap Creek Fishing Access Site on the Big Hole River due to fire activity from the Sawlog Fire. The site is closed to public use from Mudd Creek Bridge to Sportsman’s Park.

For public safety reasons, the Bureau of Land Management has issued a temporary closure for the Sawlog dispersed camping area, located at the Big Hole River ford site. Specific closure language can be viewed on the Sawlog Fire Inciweb page, Closures tab.