Prescribed burn brings Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest season total to nearly 7K acres

The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest continued its ongoing prescribed fire operations Thursday in Helena’s South Hills.

Dubbed the Mini-Horse prescribed burn, U.S. Forest Service personnel burned 330 acres of land between the Show-Me-the-Horse Trail and Mini Ridge Trail systems off of Grizzly Gulch Road.

This brings the forest’s total fire-treated acreage since Oct. 1, 2025, to 6,721 acres. The Helena Ranger District has burned a total of 3,724 acres and the Townsend Ranger District has burned 2,165 acres between broadcast burning and pile burning, according to the Forest Service.

The acreage burned so far is right in line with the average of 6,000-8,000 acres burned by the forest in a season, according to Chiara Cipriano, public information officer for the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Broadcast burning, like what was done Thursday in the South Hills, is a process where fire is applied generally by personnel to most or all of an area within defined boundaries to reduce fuel loads.

“We’ve had some good windows for burning this year,” said Cipriano. “Basically we are following our regular program of work, and a key part of that is taking advantage when windows are favorable."

Although it’s been unfavorable for snowpack, this winter’s weather has provided opportunities for the Forest Service’s prescribed burn operations. The lack of snow has allowed for more broadcast burning because of the exposed vegetation. However, those same conditions have limited the forest’s ability to burn off slash piles because crews need snow on the ground so the burns don't break containment.

The forest will continue to act on favorable conditions for burning until wildfires start and the agency has to pivot to fire suppression versus fire application.

Officials are encouraging Helena-area residents to visit Lewis and Clark Public Health's newly revamped smoke and air quality information page on the department's website.