With the devastation in mounting as wildfires rage across the region, the damages have left many areas and communities without power. Karl Grimmelman with our Northern Ag Network radio affiliate KBFS in Belle Fourche, SD and KYDT in Sundance, Wyoming tells us that the huge, 100,000+ acre Ash Creek fire in southeast Montana has closed U.S. Highway 212 between Ashland and Broadus and sent a wide area into a blackout.
Most of Powder River County is without power due to the fire burning about 100 poles and a substation. The fire also burned a timber cattle tunnel under U.S. Highway 212 just east of Ashland which has left a 10-foot wide, 15-foot deep ditch across the highway.
According to Grimmelman, Powder River County Sheriff John Blain says there is a need for generators in the county to power homes of people with medical needs like oxygen collectors and monitors. Generators are also needed for livestock water wells.
Blaine says that county will likely be without power until sometime this weekend. If anyone would like to donate a generator or use of a generator, please call the Sheriff’s Office in Broadus at (406) 436-2333.
© Northern Ag Network 2012
Haylie Shipp