Residents Evacuated in Middle of Night as Lazy R Fire Destroys Home

Fire season may be over in Missoula County, but Musselshell County has had day after day of dry, warm weather these past few weeks. On Sunday night, The Lazy R Fire swept through the forest and destroyed two structures. Musselshell County Fire Warden Floyd Fisher says the call came in around 8:30 at night.

"We were paged to a fire south of Roundup, out in the Johnny's Coal Road area, that fire has now grown between 650 to 800 acres in size," Fisher said. "We have had no injuries, we have had one home that has been loss and a hunting cabin that has been lost."

Fisher says a family was in the home when the fire began, but managed to escape in the night.

"They have left the area, I'm not sure where they went, but they did leave at some point after the fire consumed their home," Fisher said. "We had very high winds yesterday and last night, we had winds up to 20 and 30 miles an hour with gusts up to fifty miles an hour."

Fisher says between 35 and 40 firefighters are fighting the fire, and there are currently evacuation orders in place. The Sheriff’s department is investing to see what started the blaze, and Fisher said there was not a lightning storm Sunday night.