Forlorn looking cattle rest in the charred landscape of the Short Draw Fire, which burned across southern Powder River County and northern Campbell County, WY, last week.
A dust devil swirls through the ash of the Short Draw Fire, as cattle look on.
The Short Draw Fire consumed 35,222 acres of northern Wyoming and southern Powder River County last week. The fire began on September 11th in Wyoming, and was swept north by strong winds into the Bay Horse Creek area of Powder River County. Shifting winds hampered fire-fighting efforts as the blaze pushed back and forth through the area.
As of Monday, five residences were reported as destroyed by the fire, and 36 structures in total. The origin of the fire was undetermined and under investigation. A significant number of other houses and structures were nearly consumed, with the fire coming very close to multiple homes, we learned during a tour of the fire.
As of September 16th, 233 personnel were assigned to to the fire including 20 engines, 3 helicopters, 6 hand crews, and a variety of heavy equipment, and a DNRC County Assist Team from Montana.
As of Tuesday morning the fire was listed at 65% contained, with some torching of trees continuing on internal portions of the fire that had been unburned during the initial run. Estimated containment date is 9/20, and the fire cost was 2.7 million dollars to date.
On Monday evening of this week multiple fires were lit by lightning across the county. As of Tuesday morning around dawn those fires had been extinguished or remained small.
A dust devil swirls through the ash of the Short Draw Fire, as cattle look on.
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