Big Sky Fire Department extinguishes small fire near Moonlight Basin
By Jack Reaney CO-EDITOR
A lightning strike was the probable cause of a small fire Monday evening, August 12, west of the Moonlight Basin Golf Course in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
According to Seth Barker, assistant chief of the Big Sky Fire Department, a tree had caught fire or was ablaze. Within minutes, a camera on the summit of Lone Mountain – part of an AI-powered system installed in 2021 – detected the smoke and notified Big Sky Fire Department personnel shortly before 7 p.m. Local firefighters responded with their Type 3 fire engine, an all-terrain vehicle.
“We noticed it very quickly and determined it was not a false alarm,” Barker said in a phone call with EBS on Tuesday. Fortunately, Monday’s fire was “fairly simple” and crews extinguished it quickly. Barker said it helped how much rain the area had received over the past two weeks.
The Pano AI camera technology features a 360-degree camera system with 30x tactical zoom – privacy mechanisms are built into the software – and was installed as part of a collaboration between the Yellowstone Club, Big Sky Resort, Big Sky Resort Area District and BSFD.
It’s not the first rescue using the device either. In 2021, the new camera detected a plume of smoke from the Shedhorn Fire in the Taylor Fork watershed, ultimately helping to contain the fire to 74 acres.
In 2023, Barker added, “We had a massive stop at Taylor Fork… It probably would have burned for several hours and would have been very bad if the camera hadn’t caught it.”
Barker said the community is “extremely fortunate” to have the Pano AI cameras thanks to the public-private partnership.
A Facebook post from BSFD specifically thanked BSRAD.
“A big thank you to the Big Sky Resort Area District for their continued funding of our wildfire detection camera program. They save valuable time in detecting and locating fires, helping to keep them small,” the BSFD said.
New technology is child’s play
Kevin Germain, BSRAD board member and vice president of Moonlight Basin, told EBS that the Pano-AI system is “a no-brainer” and an important prevention resource.
“As a board member of BSRAD, I recognize that wildfires are probably the greatest risk to us as a community living at the interface between wilderness and urban,” Germain said in a phone call with EBS.
Germain worked as a wildfire fighter while in college. He suspects that because the fire started just before dark, without the necessary technology, it might not have been discovered until Tuesday morning unless the Forest Service had sent a response flight to locate the fire.
“It would certainly be pure speculation, but I think (the technology) could easily make a 12-hour difference in response,” Germain said, adding that if a similar event were to occur during a prolonged dry spell – like what happened in southwest Montana in July – the fire could spread quickly.
Germain thanked Pano AI and the Big Sky Fire Department, especially Fire Chief Dustin Tetrault, for pushing the technology forward.
“These guys made short work of it,” Germain said.
EBS spoke with Fire Chief Dustin Tetrault about available resources to help the community prevent and prepare for wildfire emergencies, including the Fire Adapted Big Sky Wildfire Hub. Read the story Here.
