Basin Creek Reservoir fire contained at 6.7 acres in concern area for fire, water managers

Regional foresters and water treatment officials have long warned that an intense wildlife in the vicinity of the Basin Creek Reservoir could have dire consequences for the reservoir and Butte’s supply of drinking water.

A fire was reported in the area in the late afternoon of Feb. 28, and firefighters responded.

An initial report from the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department said the fire was burning actively in heavy slash and creeping toward the timbered area.

The timber bordering the reservoir has been hammered by the mountain pine beetle. Standing dead trees and deadfall are rampant, providing a potential tinderbox. A wildfire that gathered momentum in the area could choke the reservoir with runoff sediment and debris and take it offline for years for Butte’s drinking water supply.

Jim Keenan, water treatment superintendent for Butte-Silver Bow County, said Monday morning that it was his understanding that firefighters were moving toward containment.

“It sounds like they’re just mopping up,” he said.

The fire burned about 6.7 acres, according to Terina Hill, a spokeswoman for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

The cause remains undetermined as of Monday, according to the Forest Service, which said its law enforcement division would investigate.

Fire lines have been holding throughout the weekend, and forest officials said there were 11 firefighters and one engine working the fire.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge announced in early December that the agency would be burning slash in the Basin Creek area. The Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department said the Forest Service had not burned slash in the vicinity of the fire, but there was little snow on the ground in the area.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Basin Creek site showed 63% of the median snow-water equivalent for March 2 compared to observations between 1991 and 2020.

Mountain pine beetles decimated lodgepole pines in the vicinity of the Basin Creek Reservoir and beyond in the early 2000s. Skeletal trees remain standing. Many others litter the forest floor, creating stacks of fuel.

Keenan has said that potentially calamitous wildfire fed by downed-and-dead fuel could trigger severe erosion of the decomposed granite soils around the reservoir.

Sediment and ash could choke the Basin Creek Reservoir and put it out of commission for years.

Keenan, along with the U.S. Forest Service, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Butte-Silver Bow County adopted fast-track strategies to reduce the wildfire threat, and the Basin Creek Watershed Project emerged.

The city-county’s work began in 2021. The agency work began in 2023 and will continue in the years to come.

The Basin Creek Reservoir provides up to 60% of the drinking water for Butte. The Big Hole River and Moulton Reservoir add to the supply.

Under the project, standing dead trees have been felled and fallen trees have been cut, piled and burned. Accessible and commercially viable timber has been harvested for sawmills, post-and-pole outfits or firewood. Otherwise, piles have been burned or slated for burning.

Stands of both lodgepole and Douglas fir have been thinned as part of the project.

Roughly 2,350 acres are being addressed on Forest Service lands during the Basin Creek Watershed Project.