Barbara Teichelman could see smoke rising over the hill before she could see what was burning.
She was on her way back from Lyman on Thursday, approaching the steep stretch of Interstate 80 east of Evanston known locally as the Three Sisters, when the smoke appeared ahead.
As Teichelman came down what locals call the Second Sister, she spotted the source on the opposite side of the interstate — a Mercedes cargo van engulfed in flames.
“The whole engine area, the front cab” was burning, Teichelman told Cowboy State Daily. “It was just blazing fire.”
The fire was in the eastbound lanes around milepost 20.
Despite the extent of the blaze, nobody was hurt, Eric Quinney with Uinta County Fire and Ambulance told Cowboy State Daily.
The Mercedes was hauling general, nonhazardous merchandise, he said.
The cause of the fire remained unknown Thursday afternoon.
Two Vans
The van was already heavily involved in fire by the time Teichelman passed it.
There was nobody immediately around the burning vehicle that she could see.
Another similar-looking van was stopped farther ahead, she said, although she didn't know whether it was traveling with the burning Mercedes or whether the driver had gone to that vehicle.
As Teichelman continued toward Evanston, emergency crews were converging on the scene.
From higher on the grade, she could see a Wyoming Highway Patrol vehicle coming up the interstate with its emergency lights flashing. She later passed three more emergency vehicles headed toward the fire.
Photos from Uinta County Fire and Ambulance show flames consuming the front of the white van and thick black smoke pouring above the interstate.
Later photos show the fire had gutted the front of the Mercedes, leaving much of the cab burned down to its metal structure.
The Three Sisters
The fire happened along one of the more recognizable — and notorious — stretches of Interstate 80 in southwest Wyoming.
The steep grades between Evanston and the Bridger Valley are known as the Three Sisters.
The stretch has gained some internet fame for photographs that, under the right conditions, make the highway appear to climb directly into the sky.
It is sometimes called Wyoming's “Highway to Heaven.”
The grades have a much less charming reputation among people who regularly drive them.
A Wyoming Department of Transportation spokeswoman previously told Cowboy State Daily the Three Sisters can become particularly treacherous when winter storms bring snow and ice. Wind is another factor, especially as vehicles climb out of the valleys.
The same general stretch of I-80 was the scene of a massive series of crashes in February.
Two people were killed and more than 20 were injured in crashes around milepost 18, only a couple miles from Thursday's van fire. The crashes involved 22 commercial semi-trucks and 12 passenger vehicles.
Busy I-80 Beat
For Uinta County firefighters and medics, responding to trouble along I-80 is a regular part of the job.
Publicly reported federal fire incident data show Uinta County Fire and Ambulance recorded 220 incidents in 2024.
Of those, 32 were fire calls and 88 were rescue or emergency medical calls. Another 100 were classified as "other" types of incidents.
The data show an average of about six personnel responding per incident. The department's most common action recorded in those reports was controlling traffic.
In March 2025, Uinta County Fire and Ambulance responded when two semitrailers collided near Lyman around milepost 39 and one caught fire. Despite the wreck and blaze, authorities reported no major injuries.
Then in November, a series of crashes between Lyman and Little America sent the department into an all-hands response.
At least five semitrailers and about as many passenger vehicles were involved in multiple crashes as snow and ice hammered the interstate.
Quinney told Cowboy State Daily at the time that between 18 and 20 Uinta County Fire and Ambulance personnel responded. All three ambulances stationed in the Bridger Valley were committed.
“That was max capacity for that side of the county,” Quinney said at the time.
The incidents sent multiple people to the hospital and contributed to hours of interstate closures.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
