DUBOIS — The acrid tang of smoke hung over the this mountain town for most of Tuesday, a result of excessive smoke rolling into town from the Fish Creek Fire about 20 miles away.
The smoky conditions forced the closure of Togwotee Pass late Monday afternoon, turning back many tourists who were headed for Yellowstone National Park and filling up nearly every room in town Monday night. The pass remains closed as of Tuesday night.
That closure was followed Tuesday night with evacuation orders for the areas around Brooks Lake Lodge, as well as East and West Pinnacle and Breccia neighborhoods. Residents of those areas were advised to immediately leave the area, taking only essential items such as medication, pets or important documents with them.
“Please take action now,” a notice from Fremont County Emergency Management read. “Please take this notice seriously and be prepared to act quickly. Your safety is top priority.”
The evacuation order comes as conditions on the ground have caused rapid movement of the fire, according to Northern Rockies Incident Management Complex Team Fire Information Officer Christopher Joyner. Fish Creek Fire has so far burned more than 15,500 acres, according to the most recent report on Sept. 2.
High wind, above-average mixing rates and a receptive fuel available to burn is pushing the fire into more of the dead, standing beetle kill in the area. That wood has been standing long enough that is well-cured, Joyner said.
“It would take a lot of water on that firewood before it wouldn’t burn,” he said. “So, we’ve had two days of alignment conditions, for higher-than-average fuel behavior, causing the fire to make a run at the road.”
Holding The Line At Highway 26
So far, firefighters have managed to hold the line at Highway 26 and keep the fire from jumping across, Joyner said.
“About two days ago we had a really high mixing rate on the fire,” he said. “That’s how the smoke dissipates into the atmosphere.”
When there’s a high mixing rate, it also creates more convection energy for a fire, causing it to be more active. It’s just like what happens when the damper on a fireplace flue is opened. The fire burns higher and hotter.
“Those two days of high mixing rates have created energy in the fire,” Joyner said. “So, we have had some hot spots on the eastern edge of the fire.”
The decision to close the road Monday night was made jointly with Fremont County Emergency Management as well as Wyoming Department of Transportation, as was the evacuation order.
“Right now, we have dozens of firefighters fighting the fire on that road with visibility of less than 250 yards at places,” Joyner told Cowboy State Daily. “It would not have been safe place for us to operate with traffic going past.”
Joyner said there are several local law enforcement officers on scene assisting with logistics.
Going door to door, to knock on every door and ensure everyone in the area knows the fire is coming their way, is likely one of those tasks.
“Someone will knock on every door,” Joyner said.
Brief Rain Welcome, But Won’t Stop Fire
Rain started falling around 7 p.m. in Dubois, a welcome sight to residents eating at downtown restaurants like the Cowboy Cafe. Some people even stopped eating and went to take photos of the rain to post on Facebook.
While a welcome sight, Joyner said that likely won’t slow down the fire much.
“It would take a lot of water on that (dead pine beetle wood) before it wouldn’t burn,” he said. “But we do have highly skilled firefighters out there who are doing some pretty hard work to make sure that fire doesn’t get across the road and establish itself.”
Those teams have been preparing for this moment all week, hardening up structures in the Fish Creek fire area and placing sprinkler systems everywhere, to try and prevent firebrands from starting any fires.
An elite firefighting squad that’s part of a national network is on site, and has stationed fire trucks around critical assets, including Brooks Lake Lodge, and Cowboy State Daily has been told they will not abandon any of the structures to fire.
“I know shutting down 26 is a big deal to people,” Joyner added. “I spent all day today and saw a lot of the people who were affected by the fire. It’s not an easy route around. It’s about a four-hour reroute if you are lucky.”
Fire is literally on the shoulders of the road now, though, Joyner added, which made closing the road down and evacuating the area necessary.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
