Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
A camp was set up at the Hulett Recreation Grounds for the firefighters and the command center was located at the Greater Hulett Community Center.
The fire as seen from Hulett.
A sizeable fire northwest of Hulett had been fully contained by Monday morning, thanks to the combined efforts of local, state and federal firefighters.
Located northwest of Hulett, the Creek Fire was reported late in the afternoon of June 11 and is believed to have been caused by lightning, according to Incident Commander Karsten Milek.
The fire reached approximately 1470 acres on a mixture of private, state and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
A command center was set up at the community center in Hulett and, by the end of the weekend, the response had grown considerably, says Milek.
"We fluctuated at around 100 personnel," he says.
Local first responders were the first to arrive, assisted by members of the community.
On Thursday, a Wyoming Type 3 Incident Management team headed by Milek assumed command as efforts continued to control the fire.
The response by that time included the Wyoming State Forestry Division Smoke Busters, the Black Hills National Forest North Zone and Bearlodge Ranger District and BLM, as well as Colorado State Forestry, State of South Dakota and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
A strategy of full suppression was implemented, using direct, indirect and burning operations.
"When we say full suppression strategy, what that entails is everything is being done with the intent of keeping the fire as small as we can with the caveat of taking evasive actions in regards to firefighter safety as well as public safety," Milek says.
"With the fire being at the beginning of peak fire season, we like to try to keep fires as small as possible and get them put out prior to the hotter, drier times of year when fires have greater potential for growth."
By Friday, some form of control line was reported around the entire fire, but the line remained threatened due to unburned islands of vegetation.
The fire at that time was described as exhibiting "high fire behavior", which meant it was torching and running on the northern end while smoldering and creeping to the south.
By Sunday, significant progress had been made, with crews improving containment lines through mop-up operations. The fire was estimated to be 50% contained.
On Monday, Milek says, the fire was announced to be fully contained and firefighters were seeing "minimal fire behavior within control lines with very minimal threat".
This was to be the last shift for the Type 3 team, with command passed over to a Type 4 team from Wyoming State Forestry.
"Today, we relieved a lot of resources," Milek said on Monday.
Still on scene were personnel from Crook, Fremont and Washakie counties, as well as Wyoming State Forestry and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
No injuries damage to structures has been reported and no evacuations were necessary, says Milek.
"The Wyoming Type 3 Incident Management Team as well as all firefighters greatly appreciated the support from the Hulett community as well as all the surrounding communities," Milek says.
