Residents in northern Campbell County in the area of Anderson Draw near the Montana border are being ordered to evacuate as a newly sparked wildfire is spreading fast.
The Silver Spoon Fire was reported a little after 10 a.m. Sunday and is burning toward a rural subdivision, said J.R. Fox, Campbell County Fire Department deputy chief and fire warden.
“We’re being as aggressive as we can with these fires,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “There’s a lot of 20- to 40-acre ranchettes on the west end of Bitter Creek and several ranches to the west that are a concern.”
The fire has grown to about 1,000 acres as of early Sunday evening, the Wyoming State Forestry Division reports.
The Silver Spoon fire is just east of the Remington Fire, which started in northern Sheridan County on Aug. 22 and ran north into southern Montana, burning more than 196,000 acres before crews gained 81% control of it as of Sunday afternoon.
It’s also burning north of two other large Campbell County wildfires that have blazed through ranchland around Gillette.
The Flat Rock Fire west of the city is 78% contained and has consumed more than 52,000 acres of grassland, while the Constitution Fire north of Gillette is 95% contained and has burned 24,500 acres as of Sunday afternoon, according to the Wyoming State Forestry Division.
Aggressive Response
Already stretched thin from fighting those fires for more than 10 days, the Silver Spoon Fire is being treated as an urgent priority, Fox said.
“We’re throwing everything we can at it,” he said. “We’ve got a great group of folks with this organization, and we can see that even with the holiday, they’re showing up on their days off and doing what they can to protect the community like they’ve always done.”
Along with “over a dozen engines as of right now,” the Silver Spoon Fire is being fought with a pair of helicopters and large air tankers, Fox said.
With strong winds blowing from the east “pushing the fire in a westward direction,” the county firefighters are being joined by crews from the Bureau of Land Management, according to the evacuation statement from the CCFD. “Heavy equipment, air tankers and hand crews have been requested. It is burning in grass, brush and timber.”
The fire is described as being active, “running and spotting” in places and “creating rapid spread,” according to the statement.
Not The Only Fire
As if that wasn’t enough, Fox said the county is also sending fire crews south of Gillette to battle another fire reported Sunday afternoon.
That fire is between Wright and Bill, and “we have trucks on the way out there now, too,” he said.
In western Wyoming, the Fish Creek Fire continues to burn in heavy timber in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. As of Sunday evening, it had grown to nearly 13,000 acres, but also had made progress on completion, hitting 44%.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
