Wyoming Ranchers Watch As 175,000-Acre Wildfire Burns Through Fences And Hay

BUFFALO — As the sun broke over the horizon Friday, about 150 tired firefighters gathered at the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department to receive a briefing reminder on the dangers and challenges of battling Wyoming’s largest wildfire in Johnson County before hitting the fire lines to tackle the wind-driven 174,000-acre wildfire.

The skies were deceptively blue with a few clouds floating over the Bighorn Mountains.

The 270-square-mile fire isn’t here, but several miles away, extending over a huge swath of pastureland that is 40 miles in length from north to south.

The fire is a tough one to battle, according to the emergency management officials briefing the firefighters outside the firehouse where they pointed to hot spots to tackle for the day on a big map taped to a garage door.

Bulldozers, firefighting helicopters and planes with slurry and water, and 150 or so firefighters are involved in the effort.

Some winds whipped up the fire briefly overnight before things got tamped down at about 2 a.m. Friday, according to fire officials at the briefing.

There were some reports of downed power lines.

The area of the fire covers an Africa-shaped territory that stretches down to Irigaray Road and beyond along the southern tip of the fire and reaches up to Interstate 90 in the northern end, with another quarter-sized area north of the I-90 also creating challenges.

These two fronts are called “heads.”

The southern tip of the fire is about 13 miles to the east of Interstate 25, to the south of Buffalo.

The northern end of the fire is about 6 miles to the east of Buffalo.

Some Evacuations

Some evacuations were made of people throughout the fire area.

Early assessments of the structures that may have been burned in the fire could not immediately be determined.

Some endangered livestock were initially taken to the Johnson County Fairgrounds north of Buffalo, but emergency management officials said that arrangements have since been made by ranchers to move them elsewhere.

Uranium Energy Corp.’s Irigaray plant is located nearby. That’s where UEC strips uranium dust placed on polyurethane beads in a water mining process elsewhere. The beads are dried at the Irigaray plant and ultimately processed into yellowcake, the necessary ingredient needed to make enriched fuel for a nuclear plant’s reactor.

The plant has not been threatened.

Anschutz Exploration Corp., a private oil and gas exploration company based in Denver, also operates in the area but details on whether it has halted fracking operations because of the fire could not immediately be determined.

Getting the fire extinguished is the biggest challenge, but for the ranchers who raise sheep in mostly the southern tip area of the fire, to cattle and horses in the upper end, the havoc created by this destructive fire is only just beginning.

The area also has a vibrant sage grouse habitat.

Overnight, brief discussions with some firefighters and others painted a picture of challenges for ranchers who may find it tough to get grass and hay to feed their livestock.

A lot of this feed has gone up in flames.

“They lost a ton of grass,” said Bob Buhr, a safety official with the Bureau of Land Management who is helping out. “It’s completely nuked."

There are anecdotal reports that hay is coming from eastern Wyoming to help ranchers with their winter feed.

Watch For Livestock

Late Thursday, the Wyoming Department of Transportation had set up electronic message boards in the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-90 indicating that drivers crossing over the key arterial highway between Buffalo and Gillette should watch out for livestock roaming in the roadway.

“Reduce speed, watch for livestock,” the message board said.

“Active fire in area, watch for smoke, no stopping on roadway,” read another message board.

Many ranchers had already taken some livestock to the Bighorns for the summer, letting the grass grow in the flats. Their livestock is returned in the winter months to feed.

The stench of burnt grass and sagebrush hangs in the air along the I-90. About 10 miles to the east of Buffalo, small fires were visible just to the south of the interstate.

These candle-shaped fires close to the ground were burning fence posts, getting ready to topple over once the fire destroyed them.

Fences and hay.

Those are the main concerns for ranchers in this area. Rebuilding this region will take a lot of help from the state and federal governments, said some officials involved in the briefing.

Into Montana

There are several other fires ranging across northern Wyoming. The larger of the handful of fires include the Constitution, Flat Rock and Remington fires, the latter of which is said to have burned in a northeasterly direction overnight and crossed into Montana.

Dan Coghill, a firefighter from the Sunshine, Colorado, fire department, said he and three others drove up Thursday to give a helping hand in the fire battle.

“I’m anxious to get out there and get a situational awareness,” Coghill said.

Coghill and has firefighting partner, Zach Chupa, couldn’t believe the massive size of the fire when they first got a glimpse of the smoke plume as far south as Kaycee, Wyoming, about 45 miles from the southern tip of the House Draw.

There is no word yet as to whether the fire has been contained, but the last report Thursday night had the fire at 0% containment.

A briefing is expected later Friday morning where more details may be released.

Contact Pat Maio at pat@cowboystatedaily.com

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