Fish Creek Fire marches toward Togwotee, could burn until October

The Fish Creek Fire 7 miles south of Togwotee Pass nearly doubled to 1,731 acres Sunday as the Forest Service upgraded its firefighting team to control a spectacular blaze that could burn until October.

Despite forecasts for winds up to 25 mph Tuesday, firefighters don’t expect the conflagration will threaten Highway 26/287 between Moran and Dubois in the near future. Similarly, buildings are not immediately threatened, Bridger-Teton National Forest Spokesman C.J. Adams said Sunday.

“The three- to seven-day modeling today does not show the fire impacting the highway corridor,” Adams said. “There’s no evacuations. We are establishing a road-trail closure in the North Fork Fish Creek, Hardscrabble Creek and Moccasin Basin areas.”

The fire sent columns of white and black smoke thousands of feet above the 9,659-foot-high mountain pass as it burned through dense woods. The blaze ignited Friday, according to the agency.

“It’s a heavily timbered area,” Adams said, “a bunch of litter and understory, standing dead Englemann spruce.”

The Bridger-Teton boosted personnel from 10 to 16 over the weekend and called for an upgraded team that should command firefighting operations starting Tuesday morning.

“It’s exceeding the resources we have on the forest,” Adams said of the call for a “Type 3” team, one step up from the previous managing group. “They come with logistics, planning, a number of overhead [personnel] that can help.”

The Bridger-Teton also ordered a helicopter firefighting crew, six fire engines and medical personnel for the Fish Creek Fire, Adams said.

Cause of the blaze hasn’t been determined, but lightning is believed to have started several others in western Wyoming forests.

Firefighters will employ two strategies against the blaze — using natural features to aid containment and standing to protect buildings as it sweeps by, according to the agency’s online fire site . Smoke may begin to affect the highway over Togwotee Pass, Adams said.

Fire danger remains high in the ecosystem, Adams said.

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