On Sunday, 15 soldiers and one CH-47D Chinook helicopter of the Montana National Guard were mobilized to support the Meyers Fire, located 25 miles southwest of Philipsburg. Following assembly and in processing, the soldiers were scheduled to depart for the fire area at 2 p.m. Monday.
Governor Steve Bullock declared a fire emergency for Montana on July 23, which authorized Montana National Guard support wildfire efforts as needed. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation put in a request for military support for the Meyers Fire. As part of the mobilization, one National Guard liaison officer will be stationed at the Northern Rockies Coordination Center in Missoula for the duration of military support.
Potential further deployments of helicopter and ground support are being examined.
The CH-47D Chinook is a twin rotor heavy lift helicopter, capable of dropping 2000 gallons of water at a time from an attached bucket.
During wildfire deployments in 2015, Montana National Guard helicopters dropped more than 2,276,176 gallons of water on fires around the state.