wildfires

With 16-hour days for weeks straight, long separation from friends and family, and regular exposure to serious immediate and long-term risks, wildland fire pushes people to both their physical and mental limits. But the recently launched federal Wildland Fire Therapy Service is now available to help those workers ease the mental strain of battling wildfires.

Fire managers are asking for help to limit new starts by being careful ahead of the Fourth and keeping water handy.

Farrell Hayes represents something that veteran firefighters say is harder to come by these days: a young person who wants to get involved in firefighting.

With the Fourth of July and hot and dry weather this week, fire managers are asking Wyomingites to be considerate of fire potential. Check your county’s emergency services website to sign up for evacuation and other emergency alerts delivered to your cell phone.

More than 200 people are working from the air and on the ground to suppress the fire despite erratic winds.

President Trump has signed an executive order on wildfire policy, which seeks to speed responses to wildfires and address what it calls “reckless mismanagement.”

The National Interagency Fire Center predicts Wyoming will have an average fire season until August, when the likelihood of big fires will increase in the northeast part of the state.

The fire is about 35 miles west of Pinedale and is roughly 900 acres as of midday Monday.

“Come back to work.” That’s the message from the U.S. Forest Service’s new chief, Tom Schultz, to recently-retired workers.

It would be called the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, according to budget documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior. The agency would consolidate the wildland fire programs of the USDA and Interior within the latter.