Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND - The Slick Creek Fire at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, June 14, burning approximately 14 acres of sagebrush and cheatgrass on Bureau of Reclamation land two miles southeast of Worland.

Washakie County and Bureau of Land Management firefighters responded and the fire was contained by midnight.

"I can't thank the Washakie County volunteer firefighters enough for their quick response to the Slick Creek Fire," said Fred Tucker, BLM fire operations specialist for the Wind River/Bighorn Basin District. "With many of our BLM firefighters committed to the Lost Creek Fire west of Cody, their response was critical to the fire's containment."

The Bureau of Reclamation does not have its own firefighting crews so the BLM is tasked with responding to fire on their lands.

The Slick Creek Fire was human-caused, according to a BLM press release, though the exact cause of the fire is not clear. Fuels in the Big Horn Basin are curing so fires can start easily and spread quickly, creating problematic situations for firefighters and communities.

"We ask people to please do their part to prevent human-caused wildfires," Sarah Beckwith, public affairs specialist with the BLM Wind River/Bighorn Basin District said.

According to the Worland Fire Department, there were no injuries and no structure or infrastructure loss.

Worland Fire also responded to a half-acre fire on Friday caused from someone burning ditches.

Kocher said, "Fuels are deceptively dry. With the winds we have been continuing to receive it does not take much for a fire to move to an uncontrollable stage."

He reminds residents who are going to burn to look at the weather ahead of time to see if the conditions the Washakie County burn regulations.

"Overall as a reminder, if a fire does get out of hand, the sooner we get called, the sooner we have to keep it smaller," Kocher said

TEN SLEEP FIRES

The Ten Sleep Fire Department responded to two calls on Saturday, June 13.

Worland Fire Chief and County Fire Warden Chris Kocher said the call to a fire on US Highway 16 at 10:19 a.m. was a controlled fire that had to be suppressed due to high winds.

A second fire reported at 2:58 p.m. was on Road 60. Kocher said it was an accidental fire caused by a potato gun. The fire threatened 11 structures including seven homes, and burned 1.56 acres. The fire was contained without any injuries and no loss or damage to any structures.

Kocher said that Ten Sleep and Worland fire departments responded and were aided by residents in the immediate area.

The Mower Fire was reported at 2:57 p.m. on the Lower Nowood on Monday, burning 9.1 acres. The fire was accidental and caused by a brush hog being pulled by a tractor. It was contained at about 6 p.m. Kocher said the BLM, Ten Sleep, Worland, Hyattville fire departments were on scene. The fire was three-quarters of a mile from the Big Horn County line.

WASHAKIE COUNTY FIRE REGS

Washakie County has its standard year-round regulations posted on the county website, washakiecounty.net.

Residents are asked to notify the dispatch center at 347-2242 if they are doing a controlled burn. They must provide location and access of the burn, nature of the burn (pile, ditch, open area, etc.) and name and contact information.

Burns can be from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

No fire shall be started if the wind is currently or expected to exceed 15 miles per hour during the burn.

The responsible party must be on site during all periods of active fire.

LOST CREEK FIRE

The Lost Creek Fire, which is burning south of U.S. Highway 14/16/20, is located 25 miles west of Cody. The fire area is approximately 591 acres. The cause of the fire, which began Saturday, June 13, remains under investigation.

It was listed at 35% containment on Tuesday.

There has been one injury on the Lost Creek Fire; the impacted firefighter has recovered and rejoined their crew assisting with this fire.

With cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity forecast for the next several days, some resources were being released from this fire to assist with new incidents on Tuesday. Multiple air and ground resources remain on scene to include two Type 1 handcrews, two engines, one Type 2 helicopter, and one Type 3 helicopter.

Updated information for the Lost Creek Fire will be posted on Inciweb (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6767/) as any new developments occur.

"We've had some of the summer crew out on assignment," Kocher said.

Worland Fire Department sent Engine 62 to assist on the North Fork area of the fire. Kocher said that engine crew returned Tuesday afternoon. The department also sent two engines to assist with the Reno Fire in Johnson County. One crew returned Tuesday, Kocher said.

He said, typically three firefighters are assigned to an engine.