It was another nervous night for people in rural Wyoming with an uncontained wildfire making a run at another small community in Sheridan County near the Montana border.
The Elk Fire, which blew up to about 20,000 acres overnight Sunday and threatened the small town of Dayton, grew to about 32,000 acres by Tuesday evening and shifted with the winds overnight, taking aim northeast at Parkman, a community of fewer than 500 people.
Local and professional wildland firefighters spent much of the night protecting homes and the town, while residents in the fire’s path were told to leave in a new round of evacuation orders.
The fire “is following what the wind is doing right now,” said Jeff Barron, chief the Tongue River Fire District-Ranchester Fire. “The efforts fighting it are just reacting to what it’s doing and going to do. Last night, there were strong winds coming out of the south.”
Those winds helped grow the fire to an estimated 32,000 acres, but that estimate will likely grow when it’s updated Wednesday, Barron and other fire officials told Cowboy State Daily.
Barron said the overnight push made for an all-hands-on-deck response from the fire district, adding that as of Wednesday morning, many of the local firefighters had been working for 24 hours to carve fire lines and protect people and property.
“It’s not contained, but we certainly got some blade lines around (the perimeter),” he said. “It was all structure protection and preservation of life.”
While folks in Parkman are on “ready” evacuation status, meaning people should be ready to go if the order comes, that doesn’t seem to be imminent, Barron said.
The fire got to withing 3-4 miles of the town.
“Everybody’s doing a great job,” he said of the coordinated effort with local and national resources, as well as landowners. “It’s been a valiant effort.”
Meanwhile, In Parkman …
For people living in and around Parkman, watching the fire creep closer to them throughout the night was unnerving and frightening, said Patricia Caywood, owner of the Parkwood Bar and Grill. But they also are resolute and focused.
What that means for Caywood and her business is continuing a grassroots effort to support and feed those out fighting the huge wildfire and their local families, she said.
“As of right now, everybody in Parkman, we’re still here,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I’ve got two people in my kitchen now and we’re still cooking for the crews and the families. We’re still feeding people.”
At first, the bar and grill was a drop-off spot for donations of water, Gatorade and snacks for firefighters, but the effort quickly grew into much more. They’ve been preparing meals, including so many breakfast burritos “we’ve lost count,” she said.
On Wednesday, they were busy also setting up a buffet for those who come by in person.
And they’re doing it under the potential of being told they’ll have to evacuate.
“We keep going. These are our neighbors and our families,” Caywood said. “We’re all family out here, so we’ve been going nonstop and are all working on little to no sleep.”
If anyone’s keeping a scoreboard, it’s 2-0 right now in favor of local residents versus the wildfire, she said.
“Dayton’s still here, Parkman’s still here,” Cawyood said.
At The Elk View Inn
One business in the area has been posting photos taken by staff to keep locals and customers informed of the fire’s status is the Elk View Inn.
While the fire hits during hunting season, owner Steve Joseph said he’s not concerned about losing business, only that people are safe.
At his place, which has a row of cabins that fill up with hunters during the fall, the fire got close, but has since been blown away for it.
“We’re doing pretty good. It’s quite a bit north of us right now the way the wind’s going,” he said.
But the size and volatile nature of the fire makes it appear much closer. Although an estimated 7-8 miles from the Elk View Inn, the huge plume of smoke rising up looks like it’s right on top of the place.
“It looks like it’s right on our doorstep, but it’s not,” Joseph said. “But it could happen if the wind came out of the north. Right now, I think we’re safe. It would be nice if the wind would just die down and firefighters could get control of it.”
About The Fire
The Elk Creek Fire’s status hasn’t been updated since Tuesday evening, when it was estimated at about 32,000 acres with 0% containment.
As reported by Barron and other agencies, the U.S. Forest Service incident team that took over management of the firefighting efforts reports an active night for the wildfire.
“There was some fire activity on the northeast side of the fire,” said incident spokesperson Jessica Brewen. “They’ve been doing some good work out there, but they’re predicting high winds today and there’s a red flag warning.”
Much of the fire is burning “in some steep terrain,” she said, adding that “what was burning last night was some finer fuels.”
Despite some speculation the Elk Fire was started by the U.S. Forest Service conducting a prescribed burn last Thursday and Friday, a map of the prescribed burn areas put it significantly west of where the Elk Fire originated.
Lightning detection also show “a ton of strikes” where the fire started at the time it’s believed to have been sparked, Brewen said.
More Evacuations
Along with earlier evacuations ordered for people in the path of the fire, residents in Tongue River Canyon were ordered to leave early Wednesday morning, as were people living from the X-X Ranch north to the Montana state line.
Evacuations also are in effect for Pass Creek and Twin Creek roads west of Parkman, as well as the canyon where the pavement turns to dirt.
Also still in effect are evacuations for residents of the Horseshoe subdivision.
The town of Parkman is on “ready” status for the potential for evacuation, Sheridan County reports, while the town of Dayton also has been placed on “ready” status.
Along with the evacuations, there was no school Wednesday for students at Tongue River High School in Dayton and the Slack School in Parkman.
A community meeting about the Elk Fire has been set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, but the location has changed since the meeting was first announced Tuesday. It will be at the Tongue River Middle School in Ranchester, 1251 Dayton St.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
