| Saturday,
July 7, 2001 10
am update
Fires
burning southeast of Bondurant and in the Beaver/Horse Creek/South Rim
area are the primary concern at the present time because the Hoback
Ranches home area is in-between these two fires. A Type I Incident Team
came in yesterday to manage these fires as the Fisherman Complex. The
Greys River area fires are being managed by another team based out of
Alpine.
At present,
no homes in the Hoback Ranches area are directly threatened, but Forest
Service and Sublette County officials are taking no chances with these
fires considering the very dry forest conditions. The closest fires
are 1-1/2 miles from any homes, with sagebrush areas between which aren't
carrying the fire very well. Every effort is being made to get equipment
and manpower on these fires to try and get them under control as soon
as possible. Information people will be assigned to be available to
Hoback homeowners to answer questions and concerns about the status
of fires for as long as needed. "Firefighter and public safety
are our #1 concern" said Greg Clark, Big Piney District Ranger.
The agencies
involved in the fire fighting are making every effort to respond to
the concerns of the residents in the area of the fires. Emergency evacuation
plans are being discussed as a precautionary measure, but are hoped
to not be needed with the manpower and equipment that will be devoted
to the suppression effort. While the specific PR plans aren't yet finalized,
discussions today were to hold frequent meetings in Bondurant with homeowners
and to have an information officer at their disposal to answer questions
and keep residents updated as much as possible.
Where
can you go to hike and camp?
So far no fires are burning in the Wind River Mountains. Green River
Lakes, New Fork, Fremont, Elkhart, Boulder, and Big Sandy areas are
all good for camping. The lower Wyoming range, Cottonwood and Piney
Creeks, ok too, but be alert for smokes and potential new fires.
Be aware
that there is both black and grizzly bear activity in these areas, and
bears (blacks) are becoming more bold by coming into camps to try and
get food. A black bear has been seen at Fremont Lake Campground and
up by Photographer's Point. Be sure to practice clean camping and use
bear-proof food containers where they are available. Lightweight, portable
bear-proof containers (about the size of a small barrel) are available
for rent from the Forest Service. These have a $25 refundable deposit
and cost is by free-will donation, with the money going back into the
bear fund. Please report any bear sightings.
It's
only July, but seems like the end of August for fire conditions
While
nothing official has been said about curiosity seekers getting in the
way, we'd like to encourage folks to try and stay away from the areas
of the fires as much as possible to give firefighters room to work.
If you don't have a reason to be in the area of the fires, please don't
just go to look. We'll be updating the fire pages here frequently to
get you the latest information of the fire status. We'll get maps and
graphics online as soon as we can get them to show more detailed information
about where the fires are. Maps are also posted on the lobby walls in
the Forest Service District offices. The Teton
Fires web site will also be updated with fire information for the
Bridger-Teton National Forest and Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.
We are
very grateful to the firefighters, both our neighbors and those who
have come here from all over the country, to help us get these fires
out. Once again our local business community has also stepped in to
provide support and supplies, catering services, and other things to
help the fire fighting efforts. And it's only the beginning of July.
We still have August and September to get through. Please be very careful
with campfires, cigarettes, chainsaws, or anything that might ignite
a flame if you are out in the forest. Report any new smoke columns you
see to the Sublette County Sheriff's office or the local Forest Service
office.
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