BIG PINEY, Wyo. — The Horse Fire, discovered on Friday, June 13, has rapidly grown to encompass 969 acres on the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s (BTNF) Big Piney Ranger District, according to an update by BTNF.
The lighting-ignited fire continues to burn in heavy timber and slash roughly 10 miles west of Merna, 10 miles north of McDougal Gap and 2 miles west of Prospect Peak, near the confluence of the South Horse Creek and Cow Creek.
According to BTNF, Alpine Hotshots and Wyoming Hotshots are responding to the blaze along with engines and crews from the Nature Conservancy and the forest service. On Friday evening, a Type 3 Incident Management Organization was ordered, “which involves a multi-agency organization of firefighting specialists that manage incidents of moderate complexity that require more resources and a longer operational period than the local forest can handle,” BTNF shared via press release.
There are still no closures associated with the fire, but BTNF asks that people avoid Horse Creek Road while increased traffic and firefighting equipment are moving around.
A drone flew over the fire on Saturday, according to a social media post by BTNF, forcing the grounding of aviation resources and interrupting operations.
“Drones stop critical aerial firefighting operations, such as water drops and reconnaissance flights,” BTNF posted. “Keep drones out of wildfire zones. If you fly, we can’t!”
See the Horse Fire on InciWeb. Keep an eye on regional fire danger on the Teton Interagency Fire website.
