Wildfire burns 1,142 acres

WORLAND – Friday afternoon firefighters from around the Big Horn Basin had their hands full with a wildfire which started at the entrance to Hidden Dome Oilfield about 12 miles east of Worland.

The fire spread rapidly burning 775 acres of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) managed public lands and 367 acres of private land due to the abundant grasses and swirling wind. The fire was deemed contained Saturday.

Worland Fire Department incident commander Brandon Yule stated that the cheatgrass which is about two to three feet tall, really thick annual grass that is about one foot tall and sporadic winds that were constantly changing directions, caused the fire to spread. “So a combination of fuel model and terrain both contributed to the erratic and rapid spread of the fire,” he said.

Washakie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Schweighart stated, “What was difficult was the swirling wind, it would kind of go south for a little bit and you’d think you had it contained and then all of a sudden it would make a rapid run to the east and it would fan out like a quarter to a half a mile at times.”

Firefighters from Worland, Ten Sleep and Manderson were joined by BLM firefighters from both Worland and Cody and Forest Service firefighters from both the Bighorn and Shoshone National Forest along with two single-engine tankers and an air attack aircraft from Colorado Slurry, Schweighart said. Rocky Mountain Power, the main distributor of the electric supply, came in to help out as well, he added.

Schweighart explained that the preventative measures of the oil companies stopped the fire from becoming a lot worse. “We got really lucky a lot of those oil field people will drag a drag around their wells, their locations, around fuel source points and that seemed to keep some of that fire away,” he said.

The fire started on private land and spread to public lands and the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Bureau of Land Management Public Affairs Specialist Sarah Beckwith said.

“With all that added moisture we had this year the cheatgrass is as tall and as thick as I have ever recalled it anywhere at any point in time. I think the die cycle of the cheatgrass seems to be a lot earlier this year and it went to the die cycle a lot quicker than we are used to,” Schweighart said.

Beckwith stated that this fire is a reminder to people that with the abundance of dry cheatgrass, people need to carefully think about where they are parking and operating their vehicles and their OHVs. Carefully think about where your building and how you’re extinguishing your campfires and make sure you have an approved spark arrestor on your ATV, she said. “Fireworks are prohibited on all BLM managed public lands in Wyoming unless there is an exception made as in the case of the gravel pit northwest of Worland where you can use fireworks from June 30-July 4,” she added.