‘This Is Genuinely Serious’: Race On To Contain Wildfire That Closed Devils Tower

UPDATE 11 a.m.: This story has been updated to reflect progress made on gaining an upper hand on the Left Creek Fire, along with a witness account and more details on the suspected origin of the wildfire. It also addresses when officials will re-evaluate the national monument’s closure.

Devils Tower National Monument continues to be closed as a wildfire burning just southwest of the monument’s boundary has so far consumed an estimated 282 acres without containment.

The Left Creek Fire, discovered at about 10:40 a.m. Saturday, grew quickly in hot and dry conditions in northeast Wyoming, with temperatures hitting 99 degrees Saturday, the National Weather Service reports.

Believed to have been caused by lightning, Wyoming state Sen. Ogden Driskill said the wildfire was on the fenceline of his land and another ranch owner — and he was struck with fear when he first saw the smoke.

“It was really scary, because that’s some of the grass we depend on in the fall and winter,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday morning while meeting with state and National Park Service officials.

“In my opinion, it without a doubt could’ve been a 5,000-acre-plus fire — or more,” Driskill said, adding that quick and precise work from the more than 100 firefighters on the scene have kept the wildfire in check.

“We literally watched helicopters put out crown fires all day long,” he said. “They kept it in the original line all day long (Saturday), and the ground crews kept it from spreading on the ground.”

That work Saturday has kept the fire at an estimated 282 acres, said Dick Terry, said district forester for Wyoming State Forestry.

While he wouldn’t say the fire is contained, he said he’s confident it’s basically under control.

“We’ve got fire line around most of it, but it’s indirect,” he said. “It’s still small and not contained just because we’ve got the east side with a shaky line until we get a little bit of a handle on that.”

The fire has so far also stayed outside the boundary of the national monument, Terry said.

“I would assume it’s lightning,” he added about the suspected cause of the fire. “But, I haven’t seen the start of it yet. But it’s 99% sure it’s lightning.”

No structures are in the area and he put his confidence at “about 80%” that the monument could reopen sometime Sunday.

“It’s still closed until re re-evaluate it again at about 3 o’clock today,” Terry said.

National Park Service Powder River Group Superintendent Dustin Sene agrees, while also praising the work of local agencies and landowners for helping keep the fire small and relatively in check.

“They did a great job getting ahead and getting the park evacuated,’ he said. “It’s an incredible interagency effort, as well as the local community here.

“Everybody worked well together and we’re starting conversations about when the park will get opened again.”

He also thanked the local KOA campground, which is just outside the monument’s boundary and remains open, for feeding firefighters over the weekend.

Kink In The Plans

The fire and Devils Tower closure have also put a kink into the vacation plans of weekend visitors and bikers starting to make their way to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

“Some travel moments write themselves, and some are actively on fire,” posted John and Jenny of the “No Rules Just Roam” travel platform. “The whole scene looking like something out of a movie.”

“We are staying near Devils Tower National Monument and found out at the entrance that a Level 3 wildfire had closed he entire monument and evacuated everyone, including the staff, due to imminent danger,” the couple reported. “This is genuinely serious and we hope everyone got out safely.”

While reporting updates on the fire, they also posted a video of a camper walking through the campground with Devils Tower and smoke from the fire rising eerily in the background.

“Scrolling — Not the news. Not the fire updates,” John and Jenny posted, adding the woman was watching “reels” like nothing was happening.

“I looked at the fire. I looked at her. I looked at the fire again,” the report continues. “She did not look up.”

150 Firefighters

Meanwhile, wildfire resources have quickly been marshalled to battle the fire, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reports.

The fire is an estimated 282 acres as of the agency’s last report at about 11 p.m. Saturday, with no estimate as to containment.

While the fire has grown to nearly 300 acres in about 12 hours, “progress has been made,” Crook County Emergency Management reported Saturday. So far, “150 firefighters are currently on this fire, along with four large air tankers, two SEATs (single-engine air tankers), and four helicopters.”

By Sunday, the agency said there were still more than 100 firefighters working the fire.

Local residents and agencies also have responded to assist.

Devils Tower is expected to remain closed “at least until” Sunday, the agency continued. “Everyone should stay away from the national park and don’t drive in, because they are watching and will ticket anyone violating the closure.”

That closure will keep visitors like Bryan Abernathy away, who is part of a crew of bikers making a pilgrimage to the Sturgis rally.

“Whole crew rolled to Devils Tower today,” he posted Saturday to his Sturgis SD 2026 diary on Facebook. “The actual park was closed due to a forest fire. Got to see airplanes and helicopters dropping water.”

This isn’t the first time America’s first national monument has been closed because of a wildfire.

In May 2013, it was closed when what was supposed to be a 300-acre prescribed burn got out of control in high winds and ignited a spot fire in about the same area as the Left Creek Fire, according to the National Park Service.

That fire also burned some power lines that left a couple dozen homesteads in the area without electricity.

Meanwhile, Another Fire

The Left Creek Fire isn’t the only serious wildfire being fought in northern Wyoming.

Two counties to the east, a Wyoming Type 3 incident management team has been called in to help fight a fire in the Clearmont area of Sheridan County, which has exploded to about 7,200 acres since it was started by lightning on Friday, according to the Type 3 team.

“A lightning storm moved across the region starting multiple fires north of Clearmont, Wyoming, in Sheridan County,” according to a report from the Type 3 team and its commander, Jon Warder.

“Weather and fuel conditions led to the fire quickly growing in size,” the report says. “While structures were threatened, none have been lost so far.”

The NIFC reports the Lumin Fire is about 5% contained, and that terrain and fuels are making the wildfire difficult to fight.

Weather conditions for Sunday in northern Wyoming call for temperatures in the upper 90s.

While he’s at the Devils Tower site Sunday, Terry said he’s also been checking in on the Lumin Fire.

Crews there also have made considerable progress on getting more control and protecting buildings in the area, he said.

“It kind of sounded like they got some burnouts completed and, hopefully, they’ll be winding down on that,” he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available.

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.