Scott Artis was trying to get some good photographs of lightning when he inadvertently caught the strike that started the Kohns Fire in Campbell County on July 27.
Artis was in his home near Rozet when he noticed the dark storm clouds overhead. He decided to share the storm with his father.
“My parents live out of state, and my dad's a real big fan of lightning and thunderstorms,” Artis told Cowboy State Daily. “It's so easy to capture lightning out here, so this storm rolled in, and I thought I’d get a quick video and give him a glimpse of Wyoming life.”
Artis picked a direction and started filming. The storm didn’t disappoint, sending a particularly large lightning bolt straight to the ground.
A few minutes later, he noticed a red glow in the spot where lightning had struck.
“All of a sudden, the fire started roaring,” he said. “My wife grabbed the phone, made sure we had good cell service, and called 911 to report that there was a fire.”
It turned out they did the Campbell County Fire Department a favor. They had been responding to other wildfires in the area, but weren’t aware of what became the Kohns Fire until Artis called it in.
“This one wasn’t on their radar at that point,” he said.
Good Vantage
The Campbell County Fire Department quickly responded to the Kohns Fire, which burned around 2,700 acres before full containment.
The thunderstorm that moved across Campbell County on July 27 sparked multiple fires in the area. The first flames spread quickly due to strong winds and dry vegetation.
Scott and his wife live on top of a hill near Rozet, an unincorporated town. It gives them an excellent vantage point to see the surrounding landscape.
“You can really appreciate the beauty of these thunderstorms, but also the inherent danger,” he said. “We have a good 360-degree view from our house, so we could see if there was any smoke and help some ranchers and people with houses and prairies from going up in smoke.”
Artis wants to be the best neighbor he can to his fellow Wyoming ranchers. That’s one of the reasons he moved to Wyoming in the first place.
Quite A Career
Artis, who moved to Wyoming from California's Bay Area, is a former molecular biologist who’s had “an interesting career path.” That would be putting it modestly.
“I worked to develop cures and processes to battle HIV and other diseases,” he said. “I created tools for cancer research, and some of the clients of our biotech products include NASA and the International Space Station.”
NASA worked with Artis to test tissue samples of living astronauts to see if and how prolonged time in the International Space Station altered their bodies. Such insights are critical to the agency’s goals of long-term experiments leading to the Moon and Mars.
Nevertheless, Artis and his wife had a 10-year plan to “get out and live that rural life.” Their dream was always to find a small property where they could get away from it all, but it came sooner than they anticipated.
“We woke up one day, and we said, ‘Why are we waiting 10 years?’ We're going to be older, things could potentially be more difficult, or we may never do it. Life changes, so we decided to go for it.”
Artis started looking for the perfect spot. He found it on a ranch near Rozet, so the couple “left everything we had known behind and went to the prairie of Wyoming.”
They've been there for just over a year, and say they are loving every minute of it.
“We got sheep, chickens, and property,” he said. “We see deer and antelope every day. There’s great people and great community. This is true America. It doesn't get any better than this.”
Enlightening Experience
Witnessing the lightning strike that started the Kohns Fire was another insightful experience for Artis. It reminded him why he was eager to pick up and move to the country.
“I've been into conservation, wildlife conservation, and environmental work for a while,” he said. “I did all this work to help preserve populations and these incredible resources for fishermen, hunters, and recreational opportunities, but I was doing it from inside an office building.”
After relocating to Wyoming, Artis said he feels that he gets to “see the fruits of those labors” every day. It makes him even more determined to preserve the natural landscape however he can.
“I'm still in the wildlife, non-profit world, and I'm in the process of now looking for a new position that kind of fits my remote lifestyle,” he said. “I spent a lot of time indoors protecting the stuff that was outdoors, without seeing or enjoying it. Now, I'm living in it and able to do that every day.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
