Havre firefighters assisting in Fergus County wildfire

Editor’s note: This version corrects misreporting about Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department responding to an out-of-area fire.

Local firefighters are responding to a growing blaze in Fergus County.

The Taylor Fire in Fergus has grown to 30,000 acres and calls are going out to local fire departments to send help.

The Taylor Fire was discovered Sunday, 2021 at 11:14 a.m.

It is being managed as an active Type 3 Incident with 92 personnel on site says a listing on http://mtfireinfo.org at 9:11 p.m. Monday.

The fire, as of yesterday evening, is zero percent contained and the cause is unknown.

Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson said his department was asked for a couple fire fighters and an engine at 5:45 a.m. this morning, and they departed shortly after.

He said it’s not unheard of to get a call for mutual aid from as far away as Fergus County, and the Taylor Fire is pretty bad.

He said he’s heard that the call for help went out to fire departments in Chinook as well.

“Everybody’s been called,” he said.

Paulson said Fergus County is hurting for personnel but the situation being what it is in Montana, and the frequency of fire seasons like this, that’s not overly surprising.

“The whole state is hurting,” he said, “... but this is pretty common.”

Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department has not been asked for aid, and several other local fire departments did not respond before print deadline this morning.