This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Federal forecasters are expecting a “normal” potential for large wildfires in Wyoming through June.
But normal still means that there will be fires on the landscape. The most recent National Interagency Fire Center report emphasizes that “significant wildland fires should be expected at typical times and intervals” during periods when the potential is forecasted at normal.
The interagency group defines “significant” as “the likelihood that a wildland fire event will require mobilization of additional resources from outside the area in which the fire situation originates.”
Wyoming saw more than 1,600 wildfires with almost 250,000 acres burned in 2025, with the Dollar Lake Fire near Pinedale and the Red Canyon Fire outside Thermopolis as two season stand-outs.
Those numbers were well above the 10-year average but below the record-setting numbers of 2024, said State Forestry Division’s Fire Management Officer Jerod DeLay in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio last December.
Nationally, the amount of acres that have burned so far this year is up 422% of the previous 10-year average, according to the report. The number of fires reported is also up, at 183% of the average.
This winter has already seen some notable fire activity in Wyoming, including a recent grassfire outside of Laramie and a December grassfire south of Cheyenne. Both fires prompted evacuations, but didn’t involve any fatalities or loss of significant structures.
That’s as the majority of the state is either abnormally dry, or in moderate or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. On top of that, parts of Carbon, Sweetwater, Albany, Platte and Laramie Counties are in extreme drought.
Overall drought across the country is on the rise, with more than half the country in drought by the end of February, according to the recent National Interagency Fire Center report.
“Snowpack remains well below normal across much of Nevada and Utah,” reads the report. “Only the mountains of central Idaho, western Wyoming, and portions of the Sierra Front show snowpack above 80%, but much of this is at the higher elevations. The snowpack has not extended down to middle elevations as it normally does most winters.”
In past years, the state has dealt with overburdened volunteer departments and retention challenges. But this year, the state will havetwo new ground-based professional wildland firefighting teams this season, thanks to a law passed this legislative session.
The two teams will each be staffed with 12 people to help support wildfire suppression and hazardous fuels reduction projects. Four of those 24 total positions will be full-time regional managers, while the rest will be nine- or six-month temporary full-time roles.
Where those two crews will be based is still up in the air. But during the session, State Forester Kelly Norris told lawmakers that Lander and Douglas are two front-runner options.
