Ashland Montana Evacuated Due To Richard Spring Fire

UPDATE: As of 6:40pm Tuesday, the town of Lame Deer (population around 2,000) has been evacuated as well. The fire has jumped the Tongue River north of Ashland.

A small town in southeastern Montana was ordered evacuated Tuesday (August 10th) as strong winds drove a wildfire dangerously close to the community just outside the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, officials said.

Roughly 500 to 600 people living in Ashland and the surrounding area were ordered to leave, Rosebud County Sheriff Allen Fulton said.

By afternoon, the Richard Spring fire was within about a quarter mile of an Amish community along the Tongue River north of town, after strong winds pushed the blaze several miles over a period of a few hours, Fulton said.

Some people in the evacuation zone left, but others were staying in place.

“We’re actually pretty worried about it,” Fulton said. “It’s jumping highways, it’s jumping streams. A paved road is about a good a fire line as we could ask for, and it’s going over that in spots.”

As of 5:23pm Tuesday, the fire has already burned more than 150,000 acres of land.

At the Otter Creek Saloon in Ashland, owner J.D. Just, said he could see columns of smoke rising from the fire, still several miles away by early evening but moving directly toward town.

Businesses were shut down and many people had left, including the residents from the Heritage Living Center, an assisted living facility for elders from the Northern Cheyenne tribe, Just said.

He planned to stay to see what happens and protect his bar.

“I’m not going to let my place burn down,” Just said.

Aircraft, hand crews and fire engines were all being used to battle the fire.

The evacuation order also covered the Northern Cheyenne community of Rabbit Town, the Amish subdivision, the St. Labre Indian School and people living along North Tongue River Road.

Staff at the St. Labre campus closed up their work areas and were told to go home and get what they needed to evacuate, said Ashley Peterson, who works for an answering service for the school.

The school’s approximately 450 students are scheduled to resume classes next week.

“They’ve asked us to pray for the little community of Ashland and St. Labre,” Peterson said.

The fire began Sunday due to an undetermined cause on private land in the Richard Spring area about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest of Colstrip.

Four outbuildings were destroyed during the initial efforts to fight it.

Shelters for evacuees were being set up in the nearby towns of Lame Deer and Broadus.

Ashland is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of the Montana-Wyoming border.

More than two dozen large wildfires were burning across Montana Tuesday, as hot, dry conditions made it harder to fight the blazes and prevent new ones from taking hold.

A red flag warning for high fire danger was in effect through 10 p.m. Wednesday.

US Highway 212 is closed between Crow Agency and Broadus.