Burroughs Fire near Dubois grows to 1,794 acres

— September 2, 2013

(Press Release) The Burroughs Fire north of Dubois spread to the northwest yesterday to increase the size of the fire to 1,794 acres. The fire has burned up the west side of Ranger Ridge as well as down its east slope.  It also expanded to the northwest and southeast both up and down Burroughs Creek. Fire behavior was extreme with running, torching, crowning, and spotting up to ½ mile in front the fire; as a result some resources were pulled off of one division of the fire for crew safety.  Growth potential and fire danger is high.

The Burroughs Fire was discovered the morning of August 30th by a Forest Service employee on their way to their work site.  The fire is burning on a ridge between Burrough Creek and Parque Creek 12 miles north of Dubois, Wyoming in the Horse Creek drainage.  The fire is located on the top 1/3 of a 40% slope in dense dead timber.  The fire is believed to have started from a lightning strike from the night before.

Structure protection is a continued focus of fire management tactics today, as the structures have been prepped to withstand the passage of fire and will continue to be pre-treated using sprinklers.  Structure protection will also focus on keeping fire west of private property in the Horse Creek drainage and north of Forest Service Road (FSR) 285.

Yesterday firefighters engaged the fire on the east side of Ranger Ridge above the structures of both the Moose Willows Ranch and T-Cross Ranch.  The management strategy for today is to keep fire west of Forest Service Road 507 and north of Forest Service Road 285 while minimizing exposure to ground crews and air resources through indirect firefighting.  Helicopters will be used for bucket drops as needed to support ground crews.  Air tankers will not be used today.

The primary objectives on this fire are public and firefighter safety as well as reducing the threat to and minimizing damage to private property and structures located within and adjacent to the Forest boundary.