New Fires Add To Wyoming’s Wildland Inferno, More Than 55,000 Acres Burned

Firefighters battling the Pleasant Valley fire near Guernsey, Wyoming, have barricaded the massive wildfire in the steep terrain of the Haystack Range that is blamed for burning the homestead of U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, the state’s lone congresswoman, and briefly threatened historic Fort Laramie.

Meanwhile, two separate wildfires in the northeastern part of Wyoming have grown to about 24,000 acres combined, stretching resources in that part of the state as the Pleasant Valley fire is slowly getting tamped down in the Cowboy State’s southeastern corner.

“We are making progress on both of them, and we’ll be helped with cooler weather coming in,” said Stuart Burnham, fire marshal for the Campbell County Fire Department, of the new fires in the northeastern part of the state. “The temperatures have been in the upper 90s, but we’re hoping for 10-20 degrees of cooler temperatures that will help us.”

A third fire, called the Clearwater Fire, has been burning in the steep Shoshone National Forest about 11 miles west of Wapiti, Wyoming.

That fire is 7% contained and has burned 1,786 acres, said Ranae Pape, a spokeswoman for fire agencies fighting that fire, which began July 19 from a lightning strike.

The fire indefinitely closed several campgrounds in the Elk Fork vicinity and has 100 firefighting personnel on the line, Pape said.

The Clearwater Fire briefly shut down the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Most of the state’s attention, however, has been in the Guernsey area 350 miles to the southeast of Yellowstone’s East Entrance in Park County.

As of Monday, the Pleasant Valley Fire had burned nearly 29,000 acres and is reportedly 65% contained, said Tyson Finnicum, a spokesman for the Wyoming Type 3 Team working the incident.

Finnicum’s Type 3 team is an emergency classification level used by fire tracking agency National Interagency Fire Center and is made up of a small group of local, state and federal officials needed to help in the management of combating a wildfire.

It’s the same kind of team that Pape is working with in the Clearwater Fire in the Shoshone National Forest.

Famous Structure Casualty

The Hageman homestead, a rustic cabin-like structure with plastered walls and built into the side of a hill near McGinnis Pass, was destroyed by an uncontained fire in rough terrain littered with huge granite boulders and tinder fueled with juniper pinions and sagebrush.

“It’s been pretty devastating,” Hageman told Cowboy State Daily last week.

The homestead likely burned sometime Wednesday afternoon after the Haystack Fire and Pleasant Valley fires combined to form one big inferno now known as the Pleasant Valley Fire.

The historic town of Fort Laramie was briefly threatened Wednesday, but firefighters and ranchers dug their heels in to stop the fire’s advance at a canal located about 2 miles from the western edge of town.

Since Wednesday, the fire has pulled back from U.S. Highway 26 and headed deep into the Haystack Range.

The burn area in the Haystack Range is between McGinnis and McCann passes in Goshen County at about 5,000 feet in elevation. The range passes are located east of Whalen Canyon Road and are located about 6 miles apart.

The southern end of the fire is about 8 miles to the northeast of Guernsey, the area where the Pleasant Valley fire first started.

Evacuations were twice briefly called for the communities of Hartsville and Sunrise north of Guernsey and for people who live along the Waylen Canyon and Pleasant Valley roads.

Prairie Fires

The latest threat in the state has emerged from two roaring grass fires on open prairies in Campbell and Weston counties.

Those fires have consumed a total of 23,000 acres in the northeast corner of Wyoming, Burnham said.

In one, the Wildcat Creek Fire is burning southeast of Wright off Rochelle Hills Road.

“It’s burning in the Rochelle Hills area, where there are some rolling hills, ravines and ridges,” said Burnham of the fire that began Aug. 2.

Wright is a tiny energy community about 40 miles south of Gillette, the central city in Campbell County’s energy-rich Powder River Basin.

The cause of the Wildcat Creek Fire is still under investigation, Burnham said.

The fire rapidly grew due to strong winds and dry vegetation.

On Sunday evening, the fire was estimated to be about 17,258 acres. The fire has burned into Weston County to the east of its origin, Burnham said.

There are no reports of injuries or structures lost.

Burnham said that the fire is about 30% contained.

The Deer Creek Fire located about 25 miles west of Gillette has multiple agencies involved in fighting the 7,000-acre fire, which is not contained.

The cause of this fire is still under investigation, Burnham said.

The grass fire erupted Aug. 3 west of West Echeta Road.

The fire quickly spread due to the dry weather, winds and hot temperatures.

The Bureau of Land Management has assumed command of this incident, with fire departments in Campbell, Johnson and Sheridan counties, as well as the Wyoming State Forestry Division and U.S. Forest Service helping fight the wildfire.

Burnham said that the region is experiencing a lack of moisture and hot weather, which has fueled the quick spread of the wildfires.

Multiple heavy air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers have been used to try and contain the fire. It is anticipated fire crews will be on scene for multiple days, Burnham said.

Meanwhile, Near Pinedale

Another wildfire burning on the Bridger Teton National Forest is the Leeds Creek fire, a blaze that's burned about 1,230 acres and is 13% contained, the U.S. Forest Service reprts through its InciniWeb wildlife fire tracker tool.

The fire was firest reported the morning of Aug. 1 and its cause is unknown. It's burning a mix of conifer and heavy dead and down fuels about 18 miles southwewt of Dubois, according to the report. So far, a crew of 95 is working the fire, along with building a dozer line to "lock up the fire's edge and gain containment."

Contact Pat Maio at pat@cowboystatedaily.com

Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.