Tag: Wyoming

A private landowner is suing the Colorado National Guard for starting a fire at a training site in Wyoming that burned more than 2,000 acres of their Bulls Bend Ranch near the town of Glendo. The $6.8 million suit claims the use of ammunition and explosives while training during dry conditions started the fire at the Wyoming National Guard’s Camp Guernsey.

The Sawmill Canyon Fire began July 14, 2012 seven miles southeast of Glendo, Wyoming and burned 14,185 acres before it was contained. About 1,000 acres of grazing land and another 1,000 acres of timberland that burned was on the ranch owned by Kevin and Susan Rothschild.

“The defendants collectively knew of the risk and danger in using live ammunition and explosives in an area that was prone to be dry, yet they proceeded to use explosives and other fire-causing materials that ignited a substantial fire, which caused damage to the property,” the complaint states. “The defendants were further negligent, irresponsible, reckless and acted without regard for plaintiff’s property by not having any fire extinguishing equipment or other controls in place to control and minimize the risk of fire from their activities.”

The Rothschilds say the fires resulted in dead cattle carcasses rotting on their property, dead fish in streams and rivers, destruction of wildlife habitat, burned standing timber and erosion, with silt and ash flowing into streams.

It wasn’t the first time. In 2006, the Tracer Fire, caused by the Army’s firing live rounds into dry grass, burned more than 13,000 acres of grazing land and timber, killing thousands of healthy trees, according to the complaint.

“The only conclusion that can be reached is that the training procedures with the National Guard and the Department of the Army have been shoddy, neglectful and poorly supervised,” the ranchers say.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Dick.

The fire hall and all five pieces of apparatus of the Ten Sleep Rural Fire District were destroyed by a fire Saturday night, The 300-person community is on Highway 16 in north-central Wyoming between Worland and Buffalo.

The cause of the fire was a propane leak. Below is an excerpt from County 10:

Working with the State Fire Marshall’s Office the cause of the fire was determined to be from the weight of heavy snow on the roof of the fire hall. The snow fell through the roof and landed on a propane line, fracturing it and filling the fire hall with propane, according to [Washakie County Fire Chief Chris] Kocher.

“After the fire hall built up with a sufficient amount of propane, it was ignited with one of the appliances in the fire hall. This led to the explosion and the fire hall was then engulfed in flames, ” reported Kocher.

A Gofundme account has been established that hopes to raise $100,000 in donations to assist the department in recovering from their loss.

On Saturday November 8 the West Range Fire started five miles west of Buffalo, Wyoming, and eventually burned 1,170 acres near Highway 16 west of town, occasionally closing down the highway.

The occurrence of the fire late in the season made finding aerial resources very difficult. A helicopter was brought in from Fort Collins, Colorado, (271 air miles away) and dropped 65 loads of water on the blaze before strong winds grounded the ship. There is a report that fire crews constructed 12 miles of fireline on Saturday and Sunday.

Resources were brought in from seven counties, two Johnson County fire districts, and four state and federal agencies. Firefighters used sprinkler systems to protect two structures in the area as the fire came within about 50 feet of the houses.

Snow moved in virtually putting out the fire and by Monday morning most of the firefighters had been demobilized.

Below is an excerpt from an article in the Buffalo Bulletin.

…This was one fire everyone in town could watch from their front porch. People were digging around the closet to find those old binoculars so they could keep an eye on what was happening.

The fire started Saturday morning, and during the night those of us who wake up at odd hours to visit the commode could look out the window and see the flames burning down the sides of the mountain toward town. You “sound sleepers” missed quite a show.

Only in Wyoming can wildfire crews work in short sleeves one day and then learn they are snowed in and can’t go home the next morning.

Monday morning, they declared the fire was 95 percent contained. The Bench Sitters wondered who they sent out in that blizzard to find the 5 percent that was still burning.