Bridger Foothills Fire Entrapment and Shelter Deployment 2020

The Bridger Foothills Fire was ignited by lightning on September 4, 2020, in the hills near Bozeman, Montana. A Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation helicopter and helitack crew of three deployed to the fire along with other resources from multiple agencies to the fire that day. The helitack crew spent the night near the fire and noticed active fire behavior early in the morning of September 5. Later that morning the helitack crew took up a position near the top of the fire to help direct aerial operations. In the early afternoon fire behavior picked up dramatically and resources were pulled off the line. The helitack crew moved back towards their camping area where there were openings in the forest and the crew had identified escape routes. Finding their escape routes cut off by fire and their helicopter unable to extract them, the crew of three deployed two fire shelters in relatively sparse fuels. All three helitack crewmembers survived without serious injury. 

Helicopters, Fire Shelter Deployment, Initial Attack, Training, Entrapment