SHERIDAN — Seven firefighters from the Bighorn National Forest have helped battle the Mullen Fire in southeastern Wyoming over the last week and will likely stay on scene for at least one more week.
According to InciWeb, an interagency incident management website, the fire had grown to 161,151 acres as of Tuesday evening. Containment of the fire was at just 14% as firefighters have faced weather conditions that have fueled the blaze, including winds and warm, dry air.
The fire was first reported Sept. 17 in the Savage Run Wilderness west of Laramie.
Crews from the Bighorn National Forest left Sheridan to help with the Mullen Fire Sept. 29. They took a Type 6 engine and chase truck in support of suppression operations.
While fire season in Wyoming has typically begun winding down by now, a dry summer and fall with several periods of above-normal temperatures have left fuel moistures low. Fuel moisture levels are measures of the amount of water in vegetation available to a fire, and is expressed as a percent of the dry weight of that specific fuel.
According to Jon Warder, fire management officer for the Bighorn National Forest, fuel moistures for the year are extremely low.
Fuel moistures calculated from weather stations show the 1,000-hour fuels (for logs at least 3 inches in diameter, which typically carry fires) at below 10%, meaning they are readily receptive to fire.
Fuel moistures calculated from weather stations show the 1,000-hour fuels (for 3-inch diameter logs that typically carry fires) at below 10% in the Bighorn National Forest, meaning they are readily receptive to carrying fire.
“Basically the lack of moisture we have received has just kept these heavier fuels (and fine fuels for that matter) at a drier state than they typically are for this time of year,” Warder said via email. “The small spurts of moisture we have received over the past few weeks quickly dried out.”
With those factors in mind, the Bighorn National Forest has kept fire danger levels elevated. Warder said the forest still has resources available should a fire start locally. Those resources, as of this week, include a squad of Wyoming Hotshots, though their seasonal employees’ last day is Oct. 10 and they are not available for off-forest assignments. In addition, the Blacktooth Fire Module is still available on the Bighorn National Forest.
Militia resources — employees with fire training whose primary roles are not in fire — are also available to help staff fires locally if needed, and Warder said forest managers value the relationships with cooperating agencies to help staff if needed as the Bighorn National Forest prioritizes helping with the fires in southern Wyoming and Colorado.
Warder added that while no wildfires had been started due to abandoned campfires since fire restrictions were lifted in the Bighorn National Forest, there have been instances of abandoned campfires reported. Warder emphasized the need for those recreating to be diligent with extinguishing fires.
Gov. Mark Gordon on Monday said the Mullen Fire shows the need for better forest management.
“We know that large fires will occur on the Bighorn (National Forest) in the future,” Bornong said via email. “Bighorn (National Forest) management policies have emphasized reducing the risk to 'high value areas,’ such as municipal watersheds, and to Wildland Urban Interface areas and communities.”
One project, the Buffalo Municipal Watershed project, includes partnerships with state and county agencies in an effort to reduce the risk catastrophic fire could have on Buffalo's municipal drinking water supplies.
Bornong said the effort to reduce the risk of degradation of water quality due to sedimentation from large, intense fires is rooted in a recommendation from the Governor’s Task Force on Forests.
Wyoming Water Development Office funded a risk assessment for the city of Buffalo’s municipal water supply, which found, “The city of Buffalo’s municipal water supply is sourced from a heavily forested watershed in the Bighorn Mountains and is particularly vulnerable to wildfire.”
Bornong said the risk assessment recommended fuel reduction activities in strategic locations based on wildfire risk and inherent watershed vulnerabilities, such as slope, erodibility of the soils and proximity to the water intake and infrastructure. To that end, he said, the Bighorn National Forest, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wyoming State Forestry Division, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Johnson County, Johnson County Weed and Pest, Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and other partners have banded together to implement fuels reduction and water quality improvement projects with an estimated cost of nearly $2.5 million in the Buffalo watershed.
In addition, Bornong said, the forest and other agencies across the state often utilize prescribed burning, forest thinning and fuel reduction timber sales, invasive plant species treatments and other tactics to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.
With the success of the Buffalo watershed project, forest officials and partners have now begun applying similar objectives to the Sheridan municipal watershed.
Bornong said the WWDO completed the risk assessment for the Sheridan watershed, and partnering agencies have started planning to identify projects that will reduce the risk of large, sediment/debris producing fires to the Sheridan water supply infrastructure and watershed. Project planning is scheduled for 2021, with projects to be implemented beginning in 2022. Bornong added that plans for a risk assessment in the Tongue River watershed were not funded in the 2020 Wyoming Legislature, but the U.S. Forest Service and partners will continue pursuing strategies and funding for that project, too.
“The Bighorn (National Forest), and all the partner agencies and groups, have identified reducing the risk large fires pose to municipal water supplies as a shared priority, and this will be a focus of management for years to come,” Bornong said.
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