Several fast-growing wildfires continue to burn out of control in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin.
The largest is the 40,000-acre Red Canyon Fire, which has drawn an aggressive response from local and federal firefighting agencies. That’s growth of more than 14% from the nearly 35,000 acres estimated Friday evening.
A Type 3 incident management team has taken command of firefighting efforts, the Wyoming State Forestry Division reported early Saturday morning, “with operations plugging in throughout last night.”
With 0% containment, the fire continues to expand about 11 miles east of Thermopolis and is burning on a combination of Bureau of Land Management, state and private lands. That includes areas leased to local ranchers for winter grazing.
“The fire has been pushing in multiple directions due to erratic, high outflow winds and has jumped Kirby Creek Road (to the east and northeast) and Buffalo Creek Road (to the south and west),” State Forestry reports.
The agency also posted a map of the fire area, but said the blaze has been advancing and that “the fire has quickly grown beyond the perimeter shown.”
The Red Canyon Fire was started by lightning Wednesday afternoon, which was witnessed by a nearby oil field crew on Black Mountain.
“We work up on Black Mountain, and the mountain’s probably about 2,000 feet higher than the area around it,” Brayden Harvey of Thermopolis told Cowboy State Daily on Friday afternoon.
That gave the crew a good vantage point, he said, adding that, “We saw the lightning strike at about 1 o’clock (Wednesday) and my coworker called it in. It hit out in the middle of nowhere, and the wind was blowing like crazy, so it spread pretty fast.”
An evacuation shelter has been set up at the Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department for those living in the rural areas in and near the burn path.
Photo of the Red Canyon Fire off of Boysen Reservoir (Reader photo: Haley Mele) 
The Red Canyon Fire advances overnight Friday on the south side of Buffalo Creek Road. (Thermopolis Police Department) 
A view of the fire line of the Red Canyon Fire. (Thermopolis Police Department) 
The lastest map of the Red Canyon Fire; however, the Wyoming State Forestry Division reports the fire has grown beyond the outlined borders, mostly to the northeast and southwest. (Wyoming State Forestry Division)
It’s The Cheatgrass
While the conditions this time of year are extremely dry and windy, making for prime wildfire weather, there’s another reason the Red Canyon Fire has grown to be so large so fast.
“The key reason why the Red Canyon Fire has blown up with extreme fire behavior … is the cheatgrass,” said Karl Brauneis, who spent 44 years in forestry and wildfire management before he retired.
“The entire side of U.S. Highway 20 east of Thermopolis is full of cheatgrass,” he told Cowboy State Daily in an email. “Cheatgrass is an ecological dead end. It is an invasive species, and it is an annual that thrives in fire.”
When it establishes a hold in an area, it can take over, pushing out native vegetation, he said.
“It will turn a natural, native range ecosystem from perennial native bunch grass and shrub to a cheatgrass savannah,” Brauneis said. “It destroys native wildlife habitat (with a fire cycle) of one to five years. A native sagebrush/bitterbrush system fire occurs once every 40 years or more.
“Cheatgrass is a land manager’s worst nightmare. Several of my prescribed burns were designed to kill out the cheatgrass.”
The Sleeper Ranch Fire near Meeteetse is approaching 20,000 acres in size. (Frank Mitchem, district forester via Wyoming State Forestry) 
The Sleeper Ranch fire burning northeast of Meeteetse. (National Interagency Fire Center)
Sleeper Ranch Fire
While the largest wildfire burning in Wyoming, the Red Canyon Fire isn’t the only large, out-of-control blaze drawing resources and attention.
The next largest is the 18,300-acre Sleeper Ranch Fire burning northeast of Meeteetse in Park County, the Wyoming State Forestry Division reported Saturday.
“The fire is on private, BLM and state lands and burning in grass, sage, juniper and limber pine,” the agency reports. “The most active portions of the fire are on the west side of the Greybull River.
“There are also significant smoke (columns) scattered through the burn with a concentration on the east end of the fire.”
A Type 3 team has been called in and is scheduled to arrive Saturday evening.
In the meantime, it’s a real threat to ranches in the area, State Forestry reports.
“This fire does have potential to expand greatly with the correct weather conditions,” the report says. “The fire has threatened multiple ranches; however, damage to structures and assets has been fairly minimal.”
As the Type 3 team musters, an active aerial attack will continue.
Spring Creek Fire
Another wildfire that was started by lightning Wednesday burns about 10 miles southeast of Ten Sleep.
The Spring Creek Fire is about 3,000 acres and is 0% contained, the National Interagency Fire Center reports Saturday.
A Type 3 team is in place fighting this fire, which is burning through sage, juniper and timber, the team reports.
“The No. 1 priority is to keep personnel and the public safe,” the Type 3 team report says. “Two divisions are assigned to the fire, with the Alpha Division constructing a direct handlines and improving the fire line along Rome Hill Road.”
The other division continues to build fire lines and fight the fire with “direct tactics.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
