Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Four fires were cause by lightning strikes over the weekend including this fire north of Ten Sleep on Saturday.
WORLAND – Four wildfires were ignited by lightning strikes on public land near Ten Sleep over the weekend.
The largest fire is 225 acres and in a rough location making it difficult to fight for fire crews. "The largest is the 225-acre Salt Center Fire, approximately nine miles north of town and southeast of Renner Reservoir. The Salt Center Fire was started by lightning on Friday evening and has been burning primarily in juniper in steep, rugged terrain. There isn't good engine access so crews are hiking to and from the fire. More than 100 firefighters have been fighting this fire which is expected to be 50 percent contained by the end of operations tonight (Monday)," Bureau of land Management Public Affairs Sarah Beckwith said. "Aviation resources have played a key role because of difficult terrain and have included three helicopters, three single engine air tankers and one heavy air tanker. Today (Monday) on the Salt Center Fire, two helicopters are dumping buckets of water on hot spots in the interior of the fire," she added.
Three of the fires are located south of Ten Sleep and are relatively small and have either been extinguished or close to being. "The largest is the 25-acre Spring Creek Fire near Red Reflet Ranch which was 90 percent contained as of the end of operations Sunday night. The West Rim fire was one acre and the Alkali Creek fire was one-quarter acre and both are out as of today (Monday)," Beckwith said.
Fire crews from Ten Sleep, Worland and Big Horn County volunteer fire departments; U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and State of Wyoming responded to the fires. The Salt Center Fire has specialized crews in attendance as well. "Crews on the Salt Center Fire include the newly-formed 20-person Devil's Canyon Hand Crew which is a national BLM Type II initial attack hand crew stationed at the BLM district office in Worland. The crew is comprised of both military veterans and civilians and this is their first fire response as a team. Other crews include the Wyoming Interagency Hotshot Crew hosted by the Bighorn National Forest and based in Greybull; the Roosevelt Interagency Hotshot Crew, another US Forest Service crew based in Fort Collins, Colorado; and the Smokebusters, a crew made up of minimum security Wyoming inmates who are professionally trained as fire fighters and work under the supervision of staff from the Division of Forestry," Beckwith stated.
The Town of Ten Sleep has accommodated the fire crews in every way that they can. Port-a-potties have been set up at the Ten Sleep School for firefighters camping on the school's lawn. "We are glad to have them (firefighters) here and want to be any help to them that we can," Ten Sleep School Superintendent Jimmy Phelps said.
The Ten Sleep fire hall has become a base station for the BLM firefighters. "The Town of Ten Sleep has been extremely helpful with our efforts. The Salt Center Fire Incident Command Post is located at the new Ten Sleep Fire Hall. We have been able to purchase all meals for firefighters from businesses in both Ten Sleep and Worland," Beckwith said.
