Single Publication

Jackson Wyo., September 29, 2024 – The Fish Creek Fire and the Pack Trail Fire were extremely visible on Saturday, September 28, putting large smoke columns into the air. The Fish Creek Fire acreage is 25,069 acres and the Pack Trail fire, just 3 miles south of the southern edge of the Fish Creek Fire, grew to over 9,000 acres. Both fires are burning in heavy timber. The lightning-caused Fish Creek Fire was discovered on August 16, 2024, while the lightning caused Pack Trail Fire was discovered on September 15, 2024. There is an emergency closure in effect around both fires. 

An Incident Management Team has been suppressing these fires. While both fires have been active and creating smoke columns, the Pack Trail Fire growth was significant yesterday. “The fire is in remote terrain with very difficult access,” said Jackson District Ranger Todd Stiles. “Tree density and heavy dead and snag tree components make it very dangerous to put firefighters on the ground,” he said. Firefighter safety has remained the number one priority throughout this incident. “After initial attempts to access the Pack Trail Fire by our local helitack firefighters, it was determined that attempts to put a larger force on the ground would likely be unsuccessful, and could result in high likelihood of injury,” he said. Early attempts to tamp the Pack Trail Fire down with air resources and water drops had no effect. The weather that day was extremely windy, contributing to the overall ineffectiveness of aerial attack. 

A confinement and point protection strategy was orchestrated by the Incident Management Team and firefighters to utilize the surrounding terrain and changes in fuel type to act as potential containment features. “Weather and forecasted precipitation have not materialized over the fire,” Stiles continued. "Substantial air resources have been applied by the Incident Management Team, and with yesterday’s dry and warm conditions, air attack efforts had little effect. “The fire started to spotting ahead of itself, passing over and even burning through the terrain and more favorable grass and sage fuel type confinement features,” Stiles said. “The fire displayed behavior much more indicative of mid to late August prime summer fire season,” he noted.

Additional resources are on order and this fire is now the priority fire in the region.

EVACUATION INFORMATION:

Fremont County Emergency Management issued the "SET" Level 2 evacuation status for the following communities: Brooks Lake Lodge, Brooks Lake Road, East & West Pinnacle Drive, Breccia Drive, US HWY 26, entrance to Brooks Lake Road, Falls Campground, Lava Mountain Lodge, Roaming River Subdivision, Buckboard Subdivision, Double Bar J Ranch, Lava Creek Ranch, Triangle C Ranch, Long Creek Ranch, Paintbrush & Carriage Drive, Long Creek Subdivision, the old KOA. 

READY evacuation status (Level 1) issued for: The Bourbon Subdivision

Visit the incident information pages for the latest information:

• https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/wybtf-pack-trail-fire
•  https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/wybtf-fish-creek-fire

The emergency closure order is in effect and can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1205718.pdf

The map of the emergency closure is located at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1205717.pdf

For weather forecast visit: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Riverton&state=WY&site=RIW&textField1=43.0356&textField2=-108.415&e=0

For up to date road closure and Highway 26/287 information, visit: https://www.wyoroad.info/511/511announcement.html

Please direct all public or media inquiries to Public Information at 2024.fishcreek@fienet.gov or by phone at 307-395-2351.

For other news, events and information, please call 307-739-5500 or visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/btnf or follow the Bridger-Teton National Forest on Facebook @BridgerTetonNF or on X (formerly Twitter) @BridgerTetonNF.

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