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Wildfire starts northeast of Montana capital Monday

by Tom Kuglin, Helena (Mont.) Independent Record |

A wildfire that sparked east of Lincoln Monday afternoon quickly grew to 1,500 acres and triggered evacuations of a rural subdivision.

The Horsefly Fire was reported shortly before 12:30 p.m. Monday burning about 8 miles east of Lincoln. It is burning about two miles northwest of the Black Diamond fire near Flesher Pass. By 7 p.m. it had grown to 1,500 acres.

The cause was unknown Monday evening.

Firefighters on the ground, air tankers and helicopters all responded to the fire. The Idaho-based incident management team overseeing Black Diamond and the Nevada Creek fires has taken over Horsefly as well.

The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office evacuated the area of Flesher Acres subdivision on the east side of Flesher Pass due to the Horsefly Fire.