Early July 17, a fast-moving fire started in Musselshell, Mont. By nightfall, the Majerus Road fire, as it was named, had caused the evacuation of at least 60 households.
Musselshell County asked The HSUS for help in setting up and running an emergency animal shelter. Fire fighters are working to contain the disaster, but the fire threatens a dry area full of 20-acre homesteads with many companion and livestock animals.
The Rimrock Humane Society, located in Roundup, does not yet have a shelter. Many of the members live in the area affected by the fire and have been evacuating. The director of Rimrock Humane is acting as volunteer coordinator in the area, while The HSUS Northern Rockies Regional Office is working to provide assistance.
The regional office loaded emergency animal sheltering supplies and kennels onto a convoy of trailers, support vehicles and an equine rescue trailer. The convoy left Billings at noon on July 18, headed north toward the evacuated zone in Roundup. The equine rescue trailer will serve as a command center and a storage facility for feed and inventory. 
Four members of the National Disaster Animal Response Team headquarters team joined the response July 18. They arrived with specialized skills in large animal rescue and operations in wildland fires.
The American Red Cross set up a human shelter in Roundup, the county seat of Musselshell County, and The HSUS regional office arranged for a mobile veterinarian to visit the shelter to conduct animal assessments and evaluate sheltering options.
Other cooperating agencies include ZooMontana, located in Billings, which has been helping load supplies for the convoy.
The fire warrants close attention because it is currently about five miles from a major coal mine. Additional members of NDART-1 are on standby for this response.
