All-Out, Around-The-Clock Effort To Save Historic Brooks Lake Lodge From Fire

Standing on top of the Continental Divide on Highway 26 on Saturday morning, Mathew Tousignant could see smoke and fire crawling around Two Oceans Mountain in the direction of Wyoming’s iconic Brooks Lake Lodge.

Tousignant, general manager of the lodge, could also see a crew of about 25 people in the area, putting out spot fires and continuing to prepare things for the oncoming conflagration.

The century-old lodge is in the path of the Fish Creek Fire in northwest Wyoming, which has burned 10,300 acres in Bridger-Teton National Forest and is 0% contained.

Tousignant told Cowboy State Daily he is incredibly grateful for all the effort put in over the last few days to try to protect the historic lodge. Fire crews have put in an all-out effort to save it.

“They have created a perimeter boundary around the lodge that is beyond words,” he said. “It’s incredible. They’ve worked so hard to make it a safe space, hardening all of our structures the best as possible.”

That “hardening” has included cutting grasses and removing dead, dry wood from around Brooks Lake Lodge, Teton County Idaho Fire Chief Mike Maltaverne told Cowboy State Daily.

Teton County Idaho is among fire crews from throughout the West that have lent some of their firefighters and equipment to help Wyoming’s firefighters tame more than 350,000 acres of wildfires raging at various places in the state and into Montana. The team working at Brooks Lake lodge has had about 25 firefighters at any given time, from various departments that include Dubois volunteers.

“We spent a day or two prepping (Brooks Lake Lodge), and that included removing vegetation from around the building,” Maltaverne said. “We kind of cleaned things up in anticipation of that fire coming.”

Another thing the Brooks Lake Lodge team did was to install a sprinkler system around the historic buildings.

“When the fire is coming, you turn the sprinkler system on, and it basically wets everything down and increases the humidity in the area,” he said. “And hopefully, then those buildings can stand on their own.”

Firefighters will stay on scene as long as they safely can, Maltaverne indicated, putting out any spot fires and turning the sprinkler systems on when the time comes.

Several fire trucks full of water are also stationed at the location, Tousignant told Cowboy State Daily.

“The kind of worst-case scenario is that if the fire is coming in and it’s burning very intense, firefighters may not be able to stay at the lodge to protect those buildings,” Maltoverne said. “So, we have tried to take all the actions we can for those buildings to stand on their own right.”

Sky Full Of Smoke

Saturday morning, the sky was filled with smoke and the wind was coming from the west and south, Tousignant said.

“Unfortunately, directly toward Brooks Lake Lodge,” he said. “But we are so hopeful. Fire crews have been working nonstop. They have cut down so much of this beetle kill that has been affecting us. They’ve limbed the trees to about 5, 6 feet depending upon the specific tree. And they’ve installed sprinkler systems as far as the eye can see.”

The sprinkler systems are not remotely controlled, Maltaverne said. They have to be activated on site.

Tousignant said he’s already evacuated all the employees from Brooks Lake Lodge. That was a step taken as soon as it was clear the Fish Creek Fire was raging out of control and headed their way.

Tousignant also called guests to tell them they should not come to the lodge. That way he did not have to evacuate any guests.

The lodge’s horse herd has been taken in by Teton Valley Ranch Camp and the CM Ranch.

Dubois, Tousignant added, has done everything possible to help the lodge, from opening up homes to house some of his employees to offering food to help keep everyone fed.

Tousignant, in a speech Friday night at the weekly rodeo thanking Dubois, said he is grateful to be surrounded by such a caring community.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you all,” he said. “We are stronger together, and your support means the world to us. The lodge has stood for 102 years as a pillar of this community, and we pray that it lasts for at least another 102 years.”

Wyoming’s Four-Letter Word Is Wind

Fire had not yet reached Brooks Lake Lodge as of Saturday morning, Touisgnant said from his Continental Divide perch where he is far enough away from the fire, but still has a clear view of the lodge.

“There’s still a good deal of space between the fire and the lodge at this moment,” Tousignant said. “But it’s all weather-dependent and wind dependent.”

Wind, Tousignant added, Wyoming’s favorite four-letter word.

High and shifting wind gusts have pushed fire over numerous break lines that firefighters have carved around the mega fires that are burning fast in the Cowboy State right now.

Horse Draw Fire alone has burned an estimated 175,000 acres in Johnson County. Then there’s the Remington Fire that started in the Sheridan area, which blew up to about 130,000 acres overnight Friday, 30,000 of which are in Wyoming.

The Flat Rock Fire in Campbell County has burned 42,000 acres and Constitution Fire in Campbell has torched 12,000.

The Fish Creek Fire that is threatening Brooks Lake Lodge is the smallest of the notable fires in Wyoming now at 10,300 acres burned.

That doesn’t include any of the much smaller fires burning, like the 50-acre East Fork Fire to the southeast of Worland or others in Washakie, Natrona and Platte counties.

Wyoming is not the only state with wildfires raging. Fires are burning throughout the West, and Maltaverne told Cowboy State Daily he is dealing with a couple of smaller fires in Idaho himself. But he was able to spare some of his own team to help at Brooks Lake Lodge.

A Uniquely Wyoming Treasure

Fish Creek Fire may be small, but if it gets Brooks Lake Lodge, it will take a 102-year-old historic treasure that can never be replaced.

Brooks Lake Lodge sits along the western edge of the Shoshone National Forest — the nation’s first national forest — on what was once known as the Yellowstone-Lander Road over Togwotee Pass.

Fire has come for Brooks Lake Lodge before, Tousignant said, and he himself has seen six wildfires at various locations where he has worked.

It’s still an emotional experience, though, when fire comes for something you love.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said. “One minute the sky is blue, and you can still hear the robins chirping. The next, it’s hard to breathe.”

Tousignant has told Cowboy State Daily previously that fire has been his top concern for Brooks Lake Lodge since he began to manage it five or six years ago. He’s had numerous conversations with the U.S. Forest Service, he told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday, pleading with them to allow Brooks Lake Lodge to remove more fuel from around the lodge.

“I can remember a day when, after I had asked to remove fuels several times, a group of 15 people from the Shoshone National Forest showed up and walked around,” Tousignant said. “And one of the Forest Service staff said something that has resonated and keeps echoing in my mind. He said, ‘You know, we’ve removed fuels around so many other structures, and we haven’t done this one because it is such a difficult task, because the trees in this vicinity are on such step, steep elevation changes on the hillsides around us.’”

Tousignant said he gets that it’s difficult, since he lives at the lodge.

“But the hotshot crew came in here and got this done in a day,” Tousignant said. “They did it in a day. I guess they had in the ballpark, 30 people, and they worked for 24 hours straight.”

Race Against The Wind

Hot shot crews told Tousignant on Saturday they are now clearing trees from the sides of the roadway and plan to do so the entire 5 miles to Brooks Lake Lodge. That will ensure there are no accidents where a tree falls and blocks access to the lodge, either in or out.

It’s just one of many ways that volunteer firefighters have gone above and beyond for an historic Wyoming treasure, Tousignant said.

“That brought me to tears,” he said. “That’s amazing. My guess, based on observation is that they’ve removed everything from 250 to 300 feet around all the structures. There’s nothing left standing now besides healthy green trees and they have been limbed from the ground up several feet.”

That should keep the remaining trees from lighting on fire, since all that remains is green wood, Tousignant said.

“Finally, it’s a well-managed park, something I’ve only ever dreamed of,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The hot shot crews have done an incredible job. I think I would be safe to say that they have done a job that has needed to be done for so long — and one that will keep us secure for decades.”

If, that is, the lodge can just withstand the Fish Creek Fire, if and when it finally arrives.

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.