Wildfire Season In Western Wyoming Has Begun With Fire Southwest Of Bondurant

The wildfire season in western Wyoming began with the turning of the calendar to July.

The Horse Creek Fire is burning more than 2 acres in the Big Piney District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest about 20 miles southwest of Bondurant.

Forest officials were made aware of the fire at 12:39 p.m. Monday when it was first reported by crews working in the Fish Creek drainage 30 miles to the south.

A helitack team was immediately dispatched to the scene with orders to fully suppress the wildland fire.

The cause of the fire has been determined to be lightning.

Fire crews have reported no new fire growth after the blaze grew from its initial half-acre.

Weather Helps

Colder-than-normal temperatures for the first week of July have helped keep the fire at bay, but winds have been consistently strong the past three days.

The fire is burning at about 9,500 feet on an exposed ridge of subalpine fir stands.

The ridge is in the Wyoming Range just west of Lookout Mountain (10,292 feet) and about 2.5 miles east of Blind Bull trailhead and warming hut, popular with snowmobilers in winter.

“We are looking at using some natural barriers in this confine and contain strategy to suppress this fire,” said forest management officer James Turner. “Our crews are using their expertise to reduce unnecessary risk to firefighters on a steep slope.”

Smoke may be visible in the afternoons but officials are asking the public to not report it.

Near Prescribed Burn

The Horse Creek Fire comes a week after interagency officials raised the fire danger to “moderate,” and into a week where caution is urged with the personal use of fireworks during the week of Fourth of July celebrations.

“Moderate fire danger doesn’t mean there is no fire danger. We can still see fires burn and spread quickly on windy days,” Turner said.

Bridger-Teton officials are in the process of mopping up a 3,500-acre prescribed burn on nearby Monument Ridge that began June 7.

The Forest Service says the purpose with that burn was to create a fire break just west of Bondurant where numerous homes and property could be at risk.

BTNF public affairs officer Mary Cernicek asked for understanding with the smoke that has been seen in that area for the past month.

“It is an exercise in patience to put up with the added smoke and activity in the area, but working to reduce the chances of another large wildfire in the future, and reducing the intensity of any future fires that do happen to pop up in the area, is end goal to benefit our neighbors and the forest’s health in the long-run,” she said.

The Monument Ridge fire is about 18 miles northwest of the new Horse Creek Fire.

Always Potential For Disaster

The first wildfire of the season comes also significantly during Wildland Firefighter Week of Remembrance honoring the sacrifices made fighting wildfires.

Two incidents that come immediately to mind are the Storm King Mountain Fire in Colorado that claimed the lives of 14 firefighters on July 6, 1994, and the June 30, 2013 ,wildfire at Yarnell Hill, Arizona, that killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew.

Fire managers say 26 unattended campfires have been discovered in the Teton area already in 2024

Contact Jake Nichols at jake@cowboystatedaily.com

Jake Nichols can be reached at jake@cowboystatedaily.com.