Wildfires have consumed 448K acres in northern Wyoming, southern Montana

Crews have mostly contained a massive northern Wyoming wildfire that ignited less than a week ago, authorities said Monday.

But other fires in the area, including two burning in Campbell County and one in Sheridan County, continue to grow. A fifth major blaze near the Continental Divide, meantime, continues to affect the northwest corner of the state.

Combined, the four northern Wyoming wildfires have consumed 448,300 acres in northern Wyoming and southern Montana since Wednesday, according to the federal team now overseeing the effort to suppress them. That’s about three times the size of Chicago.

The fires include:

• House Draw near Buffalo, which has burned 175,000 acres and is 88% contained.
• Flat Rock near Gillette, which has now burned 52,600 acres and is 35% contained. The blaze grew nearly 11,000 acres between Sunday and Monday.
• Constitution near Gillette, which has burned 24,600 acres and is 28% contained. It nearly doubled in size between Sunday and Monday’s status updates.
• Remington in northern Sheridan County and southern Montana,  which has burned 196,400 acres with no containment. The majority of the fire has burned on the Montana side of the border.

There have been no reported injuries related to the fires.

Fire officials are still gathering information regarding damage caused by the blazes, but there haven’t been reports yet of destroyed homes, said Ansgar Mitchell, a public information officer for Southwest Area Incident Management Team No. 5, which is managing the suppression effort. The House Draw Fire did burn some outbuildings, fences and infrastructure in the area, a spokeswoman for Johnson County Fire told WyoFile last week.

Still, the relative lack of destruction is notable, given the size and speed of the fires. House Draw, for example, exploded in size on Thursday, running for miles north across Interstate 90 and south nearly to Kaycee. There’s been considerable containment of the fire since then, Brandon Glenn, who’s involved in planning ops for the Southwest team, explained in a Monday morning briefing.

“They’ve been doing a lot of good work on that for the last several days,” he said.

The fires had prompted evacuations, but as of Monday morning, no such orders were in effect for Sheridan, Johnson or Campbell counties, fire officials said. Level 2 evacuation orders — which require residents to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice — are in effect in three Montana counties: Big Horn, Rosebud and Powder River.

Fish Creek Fire

A fifth major wildfire, the Fish Creek Fire, is burning near Togwotee Pass in northwestern Wyoming. It has so far charred 11,300 acres and led to the repeat closure of U.S. Highway 26/287, which is a major route for drivers traveling to Jackson and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. About a quarter of the fire was contained as of Monday morning, according to an update released by Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team No. 1.

The Brooks Lake, Pinnacle Drive and Breccia Drive areas remain under a level 2 evacuation notice.

Lightning has been blamed for igniting all of the fires save the Remington, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

The large fires are by no means the only ones burning in the state right now. Crews in Weston County alone responded to 17 wildfires between Wednesday and Sunday, its fire protection district reported .

Governor responds

With so much of Wyoming burning, Gov. Mark Gordon said he’s providing all available state critical fire resources. They’re teaming with local and federal crews to battle the blazes.

More than 1,170 firefighters were working the five blazes, as of Monday morning. They’re being aided by a number of aircraft including air tankers and helicopters.

“Confronting fires of this size and battling against Mother Nature’s forces takes significant dedication from those on the frontlines. Thank you to all who are fighting these fires — both volunteer and full-time firefighters  — you are protecting our livelihoods, homes, and landscapes,” the governor said in a statement. “[First Lady] Jennie [Gordon] and I send our prayers to everyone impacted.”

Gordon said several factors are contributing to the string of major wildfires. A wet 2023 created an abundance of fuels. Lightning from passing thunderstorms are igniting that fuel, and the state’s notoriously strong winds are driving the flames.

Wyoming is experiencing a typical number of wildfires this year, Gordon said, but they’re burning more acreage than usual. As of Friday afternoon, 522 wildfires had burned 327,000 acres in the state — an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island — so far this year.

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