A fire burning 5 miles southeast of Thermopolis remains uncontained, but no evacuations or alerts have been issued for the town.
The Warm Springs Fire erupted Monday, ignited by lightning from a sudden thunderstorm, local firefighters report. Although the fire is 0% contained, Bureau of Land Management officials said the blaze is not believed to be a threat to the town.
Its size remains an estimated 1,610 acres as of Tuesday evening, the last report from the Wyoming State Forestry Division.
“Monday night was a very busy night in Thermopolis. We heard a lot of helicopter action up on all the hills,” Thermopolis Mayor Adam Estenson told Cowboy State Daily. “We've been pretty comforted by that response. We've been in the loop and it's been going good.”
With the wildfire being so close to town, people have been understandably nervous, he said.
“When the fire crested a ridge where you could see it from town, everybody got concerned,” Estenson said. “The big thing for the town of Thermopolis is that the river is between us and the fire, so that that helps quite a bit putting people's minds at ease.”
Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department is battling the fire with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fire crews. BLM has diverted some of the air support from the Wood Ridge and Badger Creek fires to fire containment efforts in Hot Springs County.
BLM officials continue to monitor the fire, which they worry could be aided by high winds that have been forecasted.
“We still have resources actively engaged in an effort to contain the West Warm Springs fire,” BLM spokesperson, Sarah Beckwith said Wednesday. “The fire experienced minimal growth yesterday, which is good news but high winds are expected today. There’s still a lot of heat on that fire, and because of the current conditions and the size of the fire, we do expect to have firefighters working on it for at least three more days.”
The Fire Fight Continues; No Evacuations
Air support continues to be vital in firefighting efforts because of the rough terrain.
“We have a lot of faith in our fire department here. We’ve got a lot of hard-working people that are involved with that,” Estenson said. “I saw quite a number of BLM and other agencies with their trucks heading up that way to help our guys out. I think the response has been really good.”
“The local firefighters have a good handle on this,” Beckwith agreed. “There are no structures or homes being threatened at this point or evacuation necessary. We also have engines on that fire. They're working to contain the line and doing mop up on some parts of it.”
Statewide Support
Thermopolis had aided with the fires in Johnson County last week, and that has helped prepared the town’s new Emergency Coordinator coordinate the response for the Warm Springs Fire.
“When Johnson County had their House Draw fire, they have only one emergency manager,” Hot Springs County Emergency Coordinator Stephanie Conrad said. “I went over for a week and helped him with fire recovery and debris management. We are on the back end of things to get the dollar figures and damages and things to FEMA to see if we qualify for funding.”
The same help Hot Springs County had extended to Johnson County has also been offered to them. The House Draw Fire began Aug. 21 and has burned nearly 175,000 acres, and is 95% contained.
“If there's any resources that we can provide, we will always do that. People living up near the fire have jumped on the fire line and helped out,” Estenson said. “Monday evening I was actually at Buffalo Creek myself, kind of seeing what it was looking like and seeing how it was progressing, and if the town needed to be worried and get busy with anything. But all in all, we've been pretty blessed with good resources.”
Firefighters continue to battle the Warm Springs Fire about 5 miles southeast of Thermopolis, Wyoming. (Photo by Levi Shinkle) 
Firefighters continue to battle the Warm Springs Fire about 5 miles southeast of Thermopolis, Wyoming. (Photo by Levi Shinkle) 
Fire crews are stationed near the fire line of the Warm Springs Fire. (Courtesy Stevie Ellis) 
ire Aviation pilot Joel Hampton wraps up his long day of drops on fires in the Meeteetse area and Thermopolis area Monday. The ground crews here in Worland did 30 fire retardant fills with multiple Air Tractor AT-802F planes involved in fire fighting around the Big Horn Basin. (Photo Courtesy James Yule) 
A Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane surveying the fire before it filled its tank in a stock pond. The sky is a deep orange because of the smoke from the fire, the smoke also helping in tamping down the intensity of the sun. (Courtesy Levi Shinkle)
Code Red
With the fire close to town, the Hot Springs County Emergency Department assured Thermopolis residents that they have plans in place for emergency evacuations
“We're just kind of watching (the fire) to make sure that everybody is safe,” Conrad said. “We didn't have to evacuate anybody but if that ever were to happen, we would have communications in place, with (electronic) messaging and Code Red. Through these programs, we would be able to alert the entire town at one time. If that's a concern for people, we do have those communication services.”
Code Red is a messaging system that people sign up for via the Hot Springs County website for emergency alert. The county also has a messaging system in place using geofencing. An emergency alert would be sent to every cell phone, TV and radio in the region so that everyone will get the message.
“My big mantra these days is the only thing harder than planning for an emergency is explaining why you didn't do any planning,” Conrad said. “My goal is to get the community prepared for any kind of emergency and to make sure that everybody has a 72-hour kit at least if, for some reason, they have to evacuate.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
