Wyoming often flies under the radar of the rest of the nation, but a pair of large late-season wildfires are catching the attention of people outside the Cowboy State.
And some of them are frustrated as they speculate about why these devastating fires aren’t making national headlines, including the spread of a few conspiracy theories.
The Elk Fire and Pack Trail Fire together have burned more than 147,000 acres along the face of the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming and in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Highway 26, respectively. They’re the fourth and sixth largest wildfires now burning in the U.S. West.
The Rail Ridge Fire in Oregon is the largest at more than 174,000 acres as of Friday, followed by the Wapiti Fire (128,000) and Lava Fire (97,000) in Idaho, the National Interagency Fire Center reports. The Elk Fire is next at 79,280 acres, then the Red Rock Fire in Idaho at 68,472 and the Pack Trail Fire at 68,337 acres.
Now some users on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) are complaining that national media outlets haven’t been covering the fires burning up the Cowboy State.
Insurrection Barbie, a conservative poster who has more than 497,000 followers on X, posted that she finds it strange there’s “almost no media coverage” of “half of Wyoming burning down.”
Both those claims are inaccurate as Cowboy State Daily and other Wyoming news outlets have been providing extensive coverage of the fires; however, Barbie is correct there has been minimal national coverage.
The claim that half of Wyoming is burning down is also wrong as the ongoing fires make up about 0.2% percent of the state.
X user @Sassafrass84, who has more than 330,000 followers, wrote that “There is a serious disconnect with our media.”
“I am preparing for Hurricane Milton and haven't heard a thing about Wyoming being on fire,” the post says. “This should be front page news. Americans having to evacuate. Where is the media? Pray for Wyoming.”
@CultureWar2020 included in its post, as many others did, a video of two elk running away from a blazing fire, reporting that it’s from the Elk Fire. It’s not. This video was actually taken in 2021 at a wildfire in Montana.
“IF IT WASN'T FOR... X ...NO ONE WOULD KNOW THAT WYOMING IS BURNING,” the channel posted.
Conspiracies
Then there are those pushing theories that the wildfires have been set intentionally by the government to get to rare earth minerals.
@Prolotario1, who has more than 427,000 followers, argues that the presence of lithium in Wyoming and the fires are all part of a United Nations agenda.
What this point ignores is that none of the identified Wyoming deposits of lithium are anywhere near where the fires are burning, located hundreds of miles away in central and southwest Wyoming.
Tim Casperson, a former wildfire firefighter of 12 years who runs a website covering the topic, expressed frustration with the conspiracy theories that have been spreading online about the Wyoming wildfires.
"The fires in Wyoming and Idaho are not a grand conspiracy by the government to open up lithium mines, run everyone off their land to ensure rural communities don't get to vote in the election, or anything else," he said. "They also were not started by space lasers, and they are not being allowed to burn to push a narrative for climate change.
"Please stop sending me videos of wack jobs with no fire experience or wildfire knowledge lying to people about why they continue to burn with an eerie soundtrack in the background."
As Casperson alluded to, some have posited the theory the fires were started by the U.S. Forest Service in an effort for the government to grab more federal land.
State Rep. Cyrus Western, R-Big Horn, called this theory “the dumbest thing I’ve heard today, all week and probably this month.”
“And I hear a lot of dumb things,” Western said, who lives in Sheridan County where the Elk Fire is burning. “I encourage the people saying that to go to one of these Forest Service meetings and tell them that to their face.”
A group of people watch as a ribbon of fire burns it way across the face of the Bighorns near Dayton and Parkman, Wyoming. (elkfirwyo.com) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
The small, rural Wyoming town of Dayton can only watch and pray as the Elk Fire burns across the mountain face of the Bighorns above. (Photo by Chad Flanagan, Lifelong Dayton Resident) 
A fire crew maps out a plan of attack as a column of smoke rises from the Elk Fire in northern Wyoming. (Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team) 
At the Elk View Inn near Dayton, the Elk Fire appears intimidating. Although an estimated 7-8 miles away, it appears huge and threatening. (Photo by Jacob Joseph, Elk View Inn) 
At the Elk View Inn near Dayton, the Elk Fire appears intimidating. Although an estimated 7-8 miles away, it appears huge and threatening. (Photo by Jacob Joseph, Elk View Inn) 
At the Elk View Inn near Dayton, the Elk Fire appears intimidating. Although an estimated 7-8 miles away, it appears huge and threatening. (Photo by Jacob Joseph, Elk View Inn) 
Firefighters are nearby to fight the Elk Fire all around its perimiter and interior, where accessible. (Tongue River Fire District-Ranchester Fire) 
A huge plume of smoke rises up from the Pack Trail Fire near Dubois. (Courtesy John Angst) 
Protecting people and property is the No. 1 priority for firefighters with the Pack Trail Fire incident management team. (U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest via Facebook) 
Firefighters attached to the Pack Trail Fire incident management team pore over a map of the fire, which clearly shows the Fish Creek Fire to the north and Pack Trail to the south that have merged into a single 66,000-acre fire complex. (U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest via Facebook) 
View of the Fish Creek and Pack Trail fire area from the Gros Ventre. (U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest via Facebook) 
The fast-growing Pack Trail Fire just southeast of the Fish Creek Fire has grown rapidly, with firefighting crews now treating the two fires as a single Fish Creek/Pack Trail complex. Both are burning in the Shoshone National Forest and threatening Highway 26 and nearby residential areas. (U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest)
Why No Coverage?
The most likely reason for the snub of national news coverage of Wyoming fires is because of the hurricanes hitting the southeastern U.S. now. The areas impacted by the hurricanes have substantially more people than who live in Wyoming.
This week, Hurricane Milton knocked out power to more than 3 million customers in Florida, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off a baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane, in addition to killing at least 12 people so far. Hurricane Helene killed more than 200 people when it ripped through last week.
Western said although he’s lost all faith in the national media because of its biases, he wouldn’t be upset if they turned some attention to the Wyoming fires.
“I’d appreciate them paying attention to Wyoming,” he said. “I’ll take a positive shout out anytime.”
But he also isn’t getting his hopes up as he believes they view Wyoming as predominantly filled with “a bunch of dumb rednecks.”
Deepfakes
Although none of these inaccuracies come anywhere close to rising to the level of being a “deepfake,” Western said they do highlight the rampant level of misinformation on social media these days.
“It’s bad, and it’s only going to get worse,” he said. “All we can do is educate the public to automatically be suspicious of everything, especially in a video platform.”
Western co-chairs the Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology and has been studying the issue of synthetic media and artificial intelligence technology over the last few years, but the committee hasn’t made much substantial progress as far as advancing actual legislation.
Some Wyoming conservatives have been wary of legislation like this as they warn it will restrict the right to free speech.
A deepfake is generally considered AI-created information that purports to attribute words or actions to people who didn’t actually say or do them.
Deepfakes images ruined the life of a Florida city councilor, who had a lot of false pornographic images created of her.
Florida, Virginia, Hawaii, California and Texas have all passed laws against the dissemination of deepfakes. Resources now exist to check the validity of media created, but state Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, co-chair of the select committee with Western, has no faith in Wyoming passing legislation doing the same happening anytime soon.
“We’re basically going to wait until something bad happens,” he said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
