SUBLETTE COUNTY, WYO – Acknowledging the complexities in fighting the Roosevelt Fire, officials today ordered a Type 1 Incident Management Team for the blaze that has caused two injuries, destroyed three homes, and displaced hundreds from their residences.
Members of Great Basin Team 2—led by Incident Commander Tony DeMasters—will receive a briefing at the Bondurant Fire Hall on Saturday, September 22. On Sunday, September 23 the team will ‘shadow’ Great Basin Team 6, the team currently managing the fire. Transfer of command will take place Monday, September 23 at 6am.
In recent years, DeMasters has become the go-to ‘cooler’ when a fire needs shut down. It won’t be the veteran’s first time in Sublette County, either. It was DeMasters and his then-Great Basin 7 Team that was called in to subdue the Cliff Creek Fire of 2016.
As the blaze roared across Highway 191, through the town of Bondurant, and bore down on private homes in the Granite Creek/Hot Springs drainage, DeMasters ordered an aerial assault on the last ridge protecting the drainage that saved the day.
Earlier this summer, DeMasters and his team fought the Dollar Ridge Fire in Utah. That blaze is now 94% contained.
A national Type 1 Team will allow more available resources to be put on the Roosevelt Fire.
