Fire season knocking on the door

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — It’s mid-July and fire season is expected to begin in the Jackson Hole area. Typically, at elevation, Jackson sees later ‘browning’ and curing of fuels.

A nearby fire just south of Jackson in Sublette County is receiving a bit of attention and a small fire start at Snow King had local stations scrambling as the entire Wilson Volunteer Fire Department was cooking up their annual Chick Fry fundraiser at Stilson.

Shale Creek Fire

The Shale Creek Fire is burning in a remote portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Kemmerer District.

The fire was spotted by local resources around 2:20pm as they were conducting a patrol on July 16. Additional Teton Interagency resources were immediately dispatched.

Upon arrival, the fire behavior was described as group torching, running and spotting. The fire is burning in the Shale Creek Drainage between Indian Creek and Commissary Ridge approx. a half mile from Little Bear Trail and two miles north of FS Road 10155.

Forest officials are asking the public to stay out of the area, allowing fire personal and aircraft to work safely. Due to the steep terrain, limited available resources, and lack of access, no ground resources were committed to the fire on Saturday. Two Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs) were utilized to slow the fires spread with an additional type 3 helicopter on scene to assess fire spread, growth potential, and ensure no members of the public were out ahead of the fire. Additional ground and air resources arrived later Saturday and Sunday, along with a Type 3 Incident Management Team which took command of the incident Sunday morning.

The fire is burning in aspen stands along with mixed beetle kill conifer. With storm systems passing in the afternoon gusty outflow winds of 30 miles per hour helped fan the fires spread. A recon flight was able to map the fire’s perimeter at approximately 75 acres with numerous spots a half mile away from the main fire.

Ahead of the main fire are two fire scars from the 2017 Pole Creek Fire and the 2000 Fontenelle Fire.

The plan for Sunday is to gain access to the fire for ground resources and assess various suppression strategies given the resources available, expected weather/fire behavior.

Snow King blaze

A small fire at the base of Snow King just above the cemetery was quickly extinguished by local Fire/EMS personnel. The first engine on the scene was able to extinguish the blaze immediately. A few firefighters remained on-scene to make sure it was out.