GUERNSEY — Haylee Warner was running fire trucks each filled with 800-1,500 gallons of water into the foothills of the Haystack Mountains late into the evening Tuesday for her father, a firefighter with the Guernsey Rural Fire District.
“He kept telling me it was a wreck up there and that the fire was moving in all directions,” Warner said. ”I’d bring the empty truck back down and refill it for delivery later.”
“We repeated this several times,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow,’ when I saw how much it burned.”
The wind didn’t help around midnight when hard-blowing winds whipped up the fire again after it was sparked initially Sunday by a lightning strike.
The Haystack Fire, located in Goshen County, combined overnight Tuesday with the Pleasant Valley Fire, creating a 28,000-acre burn area as of Wednesday afternoon.
Huge billowing clouds of white and black smoke were visible from the town of Guernsey about 15 or so miles away.
Meanwhile, the Pleasant Valley Fire didn’t start with a lightning strike, but rather was first spotted along a curve a mile or two along Pleasant Valley Road just to the east of Guernsey on Tuesday. That road tunnels under the Burlington Northern railroad line that runs through town.
This fire jumped from one area to the other, causing the nearby town of Hartville to be evacuated Tuesday night.
In the early morning hours Wednesday, local firefighters reported that the fire began a menacing push toward Fort Laramie, but a line of firefighters, air tankers and helicopters hit the fire with water and slurry to stop its forward momentum.
The fire eventually jumped to the east of Hartville north of Pleasant Valley road.
Temporary Home
About five people from Hartville were evacuated to Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center just off U.S Highway 26 to stay at one of their air-conditioned barracks on the military base.
The Red Cross from Cheyenne set up a volunteer center to help coordinate the arrival of evacuees.
“It’s a little cool for me because my house isn’t air conditioned, but I got two Red Cross blankets,” said Miriam Dapra, a resident who lives along Waylon Canyon Road who ended up at Camp Guernsey late Tuesday afternoon when a friend alerted her of the fire.
“I also was provided a sleeping bag. They are bending over backward to make sure our needs are met,” Dapra said. “I’m feeling really anxious. I can’t lay my eyeballs on my home, so I’m feeling some anxiety about whether it’s still there.”
The Platte County Sheriff’s Office told some evacuated residents like Dapra that they could possibly return to their homes Thursday, but that depends on whether wind conditions shift and where the fire is at.
“As my dad used to say, ‘It depends on the weather,’” she said.
Camp Guernsey is off the main thoroughfare through town and a stone’s throw away from Pleasant Valley Road where the fire first flared up Tuesday.
Col. Scott Morey commands Camp Guernsey, a garrison training center for the Wyoming National Guard, which has sent some Army enlistees to help fight the fire.
“I’m glad we were able to assist the local authorities,” Morey said.
The military camp is a 78,000-square-foot training center for the Wyoming National Guard that can handle up to 160 evacuees, he said.
Col. Scott Morey, commander of Camp Guernsey, a garrison training center for the Wyoming National Guard, has sent some Army enlistees to help fight the fire. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Mike Beeman, who lives near Rockville, Maryland, had exited U.S. 26 off Interstate 25 and wanted to ride north on his Harley Davidson to Rapid City, South Dakota, with his brother. But the road was closed and he stopped for a break at the Dwyer rest area. He and his brother plan to ride a few more exits north on the I-25 and then head east before powering north to South Dakota, taking back roads. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Firefighters Delbert Butcher and Caleb Frink, dirty from putting out flare up fires all day along U.S. Route 26 – the major thoroughfare through Guernsey – stopped by for a case of Gatorade and other snacks at Crazy Tony’s bar and grill. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Some of the refrigerated food that Crazy Tony’s bar and grilll received as donations for about 200 firefighters fighting a 28,000-acre wildfire located to the east of Guernsey. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Miriam Dapra, a resident who lives along Waylon Canyon Road, was evacuated to Camp Guernsey late Tuesday afternoon when a friend alerted her of the fire. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Sylvia Aguirre-Peppers, disaster program manager for eastern Wyoming’s Red Cross organization, helped coordinate evacuates from Hartville to Camp Guernsey to live temporarily in the military training center’s barracks. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
From left, volunteer firefighters Alaina Maters and Haylee Warner, who drove fire trucks filled up with 800-to-1,500 gallons of water into the hills leading into the Haystack Mountains late into the evening for her father, a firefighter with the Guernsey Rural fire department. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily)
Pleasant Valley Cause Still Unknown
Officials with the Wyoming Division of Forestry said they are investigating the origins of the Pleasant Valley Fire.
Locals interviewed by Cowboy State Daily speculated the fire may have begun at a sharp turn along Pleasant Valley Road that heads toward Hartville where a driver possibly flicked a cigarette butt out his car window.
Others said that it may have started at a nearby quarry. Neither theory was confirmed.
Either way, as of late Wednesday no injuries were reported or homes destroyed.
Warner’s dad, David, eventually came down from the Haystacks, which are made up of mounds of granite boulders that form steep cliffs with patches of sagebrush and pines growing everywhere.
On his visit to see his daughter at the deli counter of the Sinclair Fast Stop convenience store at about 3 a.m. Tuesday, Warner’s tired father ordered a big cup of coffee.
He used a few choice words to describe the challenges that were ahead for the few hundred volunteer firefighters battling snakes and heat.
Not good
“We’re f***ed,” he informed his daughter, who was working the deli counter.
The people in Guernsey have banded together to help their heroes in the Haystacks, where the fire has apparently ended up.
It’s all hands on deck.
The Sinclair Fast Stop has cooked up more than 100 pizzas at the Godfather’s franchise inside of the gas fill-up station to take out to firefighters since the Pleasant Valley Fire erupted midday Tuesday.
Crazy Tony’s, a bar and grill joint in the middle of town, has organized donations to be placed in its banquet hall.
The hall is filled with hundreds of bottles of water, Gatorade, lunch meals, dog and cat food and even baby diapers for families who didn’t have time to pick up those necessities at the grocery store.
Fire crews from multiple agencies, including the Wyoming National Guard, have responded to the Pleasant Valley Fire. (Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center via Facebook) 
About 28,000 acres have burned around the Hartville and Guernsey areas in easter Wyoming, leaving a lot of scorched earth behind. (Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center via Facebook) 
Fire crews from multiple agencies, including the Wyoming National Guard, have responded to the Pleasant Valley Fire. (Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center via Facebook) 
A view of the Pleasant Valley fire on Tuesday evening. (Courtesy Miriam Dapra) 
A view of the Haystack fire in Goshen County on Tuesday. (Courtesy Miriam Dapra) 
A view of the combined Haystack and Pleasant Valley fires looking from Guernsey. (Courtesy Miriam Dapra)
Rattlesnakes Everywhere
The conditions for firefighting are not ideal.
“I’ve been around here all my life. It’s rough terrain,” said Doug Swingholm, co-owner of Crazy Tony’s. “This is rattlesnake country. I’m sure some of the firefighters encountered a few of them up there on the Haystack range.”
Firefighters Delbert Bucher and Caleb Frink, with black smudges on their gear that came as a result of putting out flare-ups all day along U.S. Highway 26 — the major thoroughfare through Guernsey — stopped by for a case of Gatorade and other snacks.
“It’s pretty bad,” Frink said. “We’ve been running up and down the 26 all day putting out fires that keep popping up. We’ve been sucking up a lot of water today."
Many of the major roads into Guernsey and Hartville area have been closed.
Mike Beeman, who lives near Rockville, Maryland, had exited U.S. 26 off Interstate 25 and wanted to ride north on his Harley-Davidson to Rapid City, South Dakota, with his brother.
But the road was closed and he instead stopped for a break at the Dwyer rest area.
The two riders plan to push up north along Interstate 25 for a few more exits and then head east before powering north to South Dakota, taking back roads.
“We were trying to head east on the 26, but we were told to turn around by WYDOT (Wyoming Department of Transportation) people,” said Beeman, who isn’t headed to the Sturgis, South Dakota, motorcycle gathering.
“That’s too crazy,” he said. “We’re just taking it all in stride. We’ll just pick up the next exit and go from there.”
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
