Crews are “ready to go on the offensive” and fight…

UPDATE: 4:00 p.m. This story has been updated to clarify that some of the evacuation orders have been lifted.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to note that a certified fire inspector has confirmed that the cause of the Moose Fire was lightning.

For the first time since the Elk Fire literally exploded overnight more than a week ago, triggering a long list of evacuations and threatening the rural northern Wyoming towns of Dayton and Parkman, firefighters are preparing to battle the 73,000-acre wildfire, instead of reacting to it.

“We were on the defensive from the start. This fire showed incredible resistance to control,” Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson said of the fire during a town hall meeting Sunday evening. “I’m tired of being on defense. We are ready to go on the offensive.”

This optimism comes after an extremely active fire surge overnight Friday, where strong winds with gusts between 50 and 60 mph pushed the Elk Fire miles southwest along the Bighorns wall.

“We are seeing unprecedented weather conditions and fire behavior for this time of year,” Johnson said. “Case in point: In the last 100 years… the largest wildfire we have had in the (Bighorn National) Forest covered approximately 18,000 acres. It took a month for the fire to reach 18,000 acres.

“On Friday evening, this fire grew to 25,000 hectares within a few hours.”

The “unprecedented” weather for this time of year subsided long enough on Sunday to give the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team more opportunity to bring the situation under control.

And that’s true, as it was reported Monday morning that the Elk Fire has so far remained at the estimated 73,000 acres it was after its major outbreak Friday evening and early Saturday, and is now 10% contained.

The easing of the winds was “a big help,” said Kristie Thompson, spokeswoman for the incident management team.

As this is expected to continue over the next few days, firefighters will be taking a more aggressive approach, she said.

“This looks like we have an opportunity to look at the entire area and improve various roads away from the fire spots,” she said. “We are removing vegetation and also widening the roads so that there is a greater chance of encountering and stopping the fire there.”

While the fire made a big push and saw tremendous growth, that was to be expected, Thompson said.

“On Friday we had several large air tankers dropping protective resources throughout the day as we knew there was a high risk of the wind moving the fire to the southeast,” she said. “And that’s exactly what it did. It worked very well.”

Meanwhile, the triggering management team confirmed Monday afternoon that the cause of the Elk Fire was a lightning strike on Sept. 27.

“A certified fire investigator was flown by helicopter to the area where the fire started and confirmed that the cause was indeed lightning,” the team reports via the US Forest Service-Bighorn National Forest Facebook page.

It’s personal

The Eaton’s Ranch site lay in the path of this advance, and while the Elk Fire burned around it, the buildings did not burn.

In the Horseshoe neighborhood southwest of Dayton, two homes were lost that night, but many others were saved, said Jeff Barron, fire chief for the Tongue River Fire District-Ranchester. He was on protective duty with his volunteer crew in the subdivision.

“We were all out there and it was wild,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “Although we lost two structures, we certainly had the potential to lose a lot more. It was the brave efforts of everyone who helped protect the property.”

Protecting areas such as the location of Barron’s crew and the Eaton Ranch is a personal matter for Barron and his department.

“That part of the country has a lot of history up there and Eaton’s Ranch offers much more than just a place to live,” he said. “It’s important to us.”

For residents, days threatened by wildfire can take their toll, Barron said.

“It’s very emotional for a lot of people,” he said. “There is a feeling of helplessness but there is some progress. This is simply a fire like no one has ever seen before. It just is.”

“Nothing comparable”

That’s the feeling Mark Garrison describes about the threat of losing a family cabin his father built in the area in 1960.

It is located on the western edge of the Elk Fire, behind Black Mountain Road, on state land right on the border of the Bighorn National Forest. At some point he was allowed back to get some things from the cabin, but it remains part of an evacuated area.

So far, as far as Garrison knows, it’s still there.

“The fire was pretty close across the street,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “Things were just out of control. It was completely out of our control, there’s nothing we can do but just sit and watch.

“Honestly, it caused a lot of sleep loss. We just remodeled this cabin five years ago.”

Growing up in Dayton, Garrison has seen wildfires, but nothing like the Elk Fire.

“There’s never been anything like this,” he said. “There’s just a lot of stress and a lot of sleep loss. It’s terrible, unbelievable. There are a lot of nice people up there.”

That includes the roughly 850 Dayton residents who have been on edge for more than a week under the threat of being ordered to leave their homes. So far that hasn’t happened.

For that, Mayor Clifford Reed said he and the city are grateful to the hundreds of firefighters working to protect them.

“The commitment they have shown to me and the city of Dayton has been extraordinary,” Reed said during Sunday’s meeting. “I am very grateful and my condolences go out to those who have lost their homes out in the Horseshoe subdivision.

“Other than the loss of a loved one, we have no idea what it might be like to lose a home, especially in the winter.”

In addition to protecting the people and the city, Dayton’s water supply is his biggest concern, Reed said.

The fire came “within a few hundred meters of our waterworks,” he said. “It is critically important to the City of Dayton that our water system is up and running.”

He also urged people not to speculate or spread rumors about the fire on social media.

“We had a little problem with rumor control for a while, but we neglected it a little bit,” the mayor said. “It’s really not good when people spread rumors that create fear and uncertainty.”

In short

The fire covers about 73,000 acres and remains very active but is also about 10% contained, the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team reported Monday.

The weather has moderated, particularly the wind, allowing firefighters to work more proactively over the next few days to establish fire lines and containment.

There are 680 people working to build barriers and lines around the fire and remove or burn all fuel where it is safe to do so.

No new evacuations were ordered and none were lifted. The following areas must be left:

• The area within Ranch Road from Eaton to the intersection with Beckton Road, then south to Big Goose Road and west to Rapid Creek.

• Little Horn Canyon

• Eaton’s Ranch.

• Tongue River Canyon residents.

• Pass Creek and Twin Creek roads west of Parkman.

• All homes from XX Ranch north to the Montana state line.

• Tongue River Canyon west of Dayton, where the road turns to gravel.

The following areas that were evacuated are now allowed to return but remain in fixed status:

• Homes west of Beckton Road from Dayton south to the intersection of Beckton and Eaton. • Ranch Roads.

• Eagle Ridge subdivision and homes just east of US Highway 14 up the mountain.

Additionally, the City of Dayton was downgraded from ready to ready status.

The best and most up-to-date information about the Elk Fire is published on the US Forest Service-Bighorn National Forest And Sheridan County Government Facebook pages.

Another community meeting about the Elk Fire is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Big Horn High School.

Contact Greg Johnson at [email protected]

Greg Johnson available at [email protected].