JACKSON, Wyo. — Togwotee Pass closed to traffic shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22 due to the encroaching Fish Creek Fire.
US 26/287 was closed to through traffic between Dubois and Moran Junction after the fire reached within 1.5 miles of the highway and smoke on the road caused “near whiteout conditions,” the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) notified drivers.
The Fish Creek Fire has been burning in the Jackson Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) since Friday, Aug. 16, and has been growing by the thousands of acres each day.
“When the conditions cool down and the moisture increases, that column of smoke collapses, in this case onto the road,” Ranae Pape, spokesperson for BTNF, told Buckrail. “Folks cannot see driving on the highway.”
The fire had reached 10,000 acres with 0% contained by Thursday evening, according to the government wildfire tracking website InciWeb.
“The acreage changes literally by the minute due to the vegetation of dead and downed trees and the wind that’s currently happening on the fire,” Pape told Buckrail.
The pre-evacuation order for the area that was at a “set” on the “ready, set, go” scale as of Wednesday remains in place and was not elevated after the road closure. That’s because the fire that reached the highway was a spot fire sparked by embers from the Fish Creek Fire but was not a part of the main blaze, according to Ron Wempen, Deputy Fire Warden for Fremont County.
Employees and guests of the Brooks Lake Lodge have all evacuated, along with their animals, as have several other homeowners in the area, in anticipation of increased fire spread, Wempen told Buckrail.
“I definitely understand everybody’s plight with having that corridor in and out of the national park shut down,” Wempen said. “I hope everybody understands that the first priority is the safety of the firefighters and the public.”
Wempen said officials will continue to assess whether the road is safe to reopen as they address the spot fire from the larger Fish Creek Fire burn.
