Editor’s Note: This is a rapidly changing story. For latest information, click the links.
Highway 26/287 over Togwotee Pass temporarily re-opened on the morning of Sept. 6. Maintenance crews led cars through a four-mile stretch from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The road’s been closed for most of the week as increased smoke limited visibility and crews worked to keep the Fish Creek Fire from jumping the highway.
Depending on smoke conditions, the highway could stay open for the weekend. Check the Wyoming Travel Information Map for more information and updates.
The lightning-caused fire started on Aug. 16 and has now burned nearly 20,000 acres.
Steve Best is with the Northern Rockies Team 1. He said they’ve been continuing their “point protect” and “contain” strategies, with an emphasis on protecting the Brooks Lake Lodge, nearby cabins and the highway.
“With the fuel loads and the beetle kill that we have, there's a lot of timber on the ground and standing dead timber. It's very dangerous to send firefighters right into that,” he said.
As of Sept. 6, crews have finished two-thirds of the actions they want to take to protect the road and nearby cabins. But Best said dealing with the fire is a “longer-term type of thing.”
“It'll probably be a longer duration fire. In reality, it's probably gonna be a season-ending snow event that really puts it out,” he said.
Almost 500 people are currently working to help manage the fire. That includes Wind River Camp Crew #1, a ten-person team that’s been helping keep the operation running smoothly over the last two weeks.
Every morning, members of the crew wake up at 5 a.m., make coffee, and get all the odds-and-ends set up for the daily fire briefing and the day ahead at the Fish Creek Fire’s operating base, located on the west side of the fire just south of Togwotee Lodge.
The crew tackles all the behind-the-scenes tasks needed to keep the base going, like handing out lunches, unloading ice, taking out the trash and cleaning.
The operating base is home to a large dining tent, showers and the camp catering kitchens, all of which support the firefighters, who are camped a few miles south of the base. The location also coordinates with the incident command center located on the east side of the fire in Dubois.
Teresa Swimmer is with the crew and is from Fort Washakie. She said the work is hard, but the team is able to get through it together.
“The crew that we have now, we're doing an awesome job and we all appreciate each other and we're all communicating and that's where basically it's mostly at is communication,” she said.
Tune in to next week’s Open Spaces program to learn more about Wind River Camp Crew #1. Open Spaces airs on Fridays at 3 p.m. and Sundays at noon on Wyoming Public Radio.
