wildfires

Wyoming’s lead forester told lawmakers that the state’s fire season has the potential to get worse, especially in the Teton area.

Evacuation orders are still in place for both Hot Springs and Fremont Counties as a result of the Red Canyon fire, which grew over 31,000 acres since Monday.

The declaration allows the state to access more federal firefighting resources and directs the Office of Homeland Security to participate in firefighting responses. There is an immediate evacuation alongside the Fremont and Host Springs county lines as a result of the Red Canyon Fire.

An area east of Thermopolis was advised to evacuate Thursday. Washakie County says crews there are working around the clock to contain several blazes.

For millennia, Indigenous peoples have intentionally set fires to care for the land. Colonization and fire exclusion largely put an end to those practices, though the tradition endured. Now, California tribes have opened the door to a new era of cultural burning - a potential model for the rest of the West.

An all-female trail crew maintains trails in the wake of federal firings. Is the worst still to come?

Prescribed burns are widely recognized as an effective wildfire mitigation tool. Now, using satellite imagery, land management records and fire emissions data, a team of researchers has put hard numbers to those impacts.

Fire departments across the state have responded to several other new blazes.

Officials are asking folks to avoid areas of active firefighting to give crews room to work.

Nationwide, the percentage of household income spent on homeowners insurance premiums nearly doubled between the early 2000s and 2022 – jumping from 1.2% to 2.1%. That’s according to recent analysis by the Insurance Research Council, an industry-supported nonprofit. Their projections suggest it could already be at 2.4 percent.