Rating:

5.0 (3 votes)

NEAR HELENA - The Grady family owns nearly 4,000 acres on Stemple Pass and runs about 800 head of cattle in the area. They've been waiting to see how much damage the Davis Fire has done to their property.

Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton opened up Stemple Pass Road to residents Friday morning, and noted, "So you can go in there and check on your cabin but this is what we ask of you, that you be ready to go on a moment's notice."

Brian Grady says when the fire started he called 911 only to find out it was a controlled burn. He says a day later things changed.

"We come back home to have lunch, then all hell broke loose and it started flaming up and mother nature come up with the wind and took off," Grady says.

Grady says he expects anywhere from 500-1000 acres of property to be burned. Now, with the road open to residents he went to see the damage for himself.

"From looking at binoculars this morning, all that country looked burnt, but hell that looks like there is just some hot spots through it," Grady says as he looks at his smoldering hillside.

While many landowners are very upset with the Forest Service, Grady says a fire was eventually going to happen. "All the forest around us, even our forest is killed by beetle kill and it's a danger, I don't know if they will ever log or whatever, but that country is pretty rough it's in now. It's gonna happen," Grady adds.

Grady says the side of Black Mountain looks better than he expected.

"You know there is a lot of green in there I think that is what kept her from going over," Grady says.

Grady says while the situation is unfortunate, he hasn't lost any livestock and he is pleased with the response from crews.