Lightning sparks five fires

County firefighters found themselves stretched in several directions over the weekend when lightning strikes caused five individual fires to spark at the same time. Fortunately, only one of the five grew to a significant size: the Seely Fire, located around ten miles northwest of Hulett.

“It’s 425 acres and we’ll be several days getting it cleaned up,” said Doug Leis, County Fire Warden, on Monday morning.

Of the five fires, this one grew so large due to the terrain, he explains. It did not threaten any structures, aside from an old homestead, but firefighters were able to cut the fire off before it reached the building.

“That big fire is completely contained, we’ve just got to mop it up. It’s not controlled yet and it’s going to be days – some of that heavy fuel you’ve just got to let burn up, because it takes entirely too much water to put it out,” Leis said.

The other four fires included the Reed Fire at around 3.5 acres, which was brought under control on Sunday; the Rock Slide Fire in the Woods Canyon area at around four acres, which was taken care of on Saturday; a small fire in New Haven that was brought under control on Sunday evening; and a small fire east of Aladdin. All but the Seely Fire were out by the end of the weekend.

Leis cautions the community that the coming summer is likely to bring considerable fire danger across the county.

“It’s extremely dry, we are in a drought situation. It looks really good in Sundance, but you get the other side of Kara Creek and Moorcroft is brown, and up north is the same way,” he says.

Members of the community are urged to use extreme caution and stay vigilant as fire season ramps up.