Another fire forces evacuations, closes highway near Togwotee Pass

A lightning-caused fire on the Bridger-Teton National Forest south of Togwotee Pass forced evacuations Sunday in Fremont County and temporarily closed Highway 26/287 between Dubois and Moran.

The Pack Trail Fire burned vigorously Saturday and Sunday, expanding to 11,881 acres, Forest Service officials said in a Facebook post. It is burning 3 miles south of the Fish Creek Fire that is now 25,069 acres.

"The significant winds have grounded aviation resources and the smoke is making the fire size difficult to estimate," officials with the Bridger-Teton National Forest said in the post.

The Fremont County Emergency Management Agency told residents to evacuate from cabins, subdivisions, homes and lodges along about 12 miles of highway on the east side of Togwotee Pass.

"Go!" emergency coordinator Milan Vinich wrote to residents in an urgent notice. "Immediate Evacuation Required."

The notice covered Brooks Lake Road, Pinnacle and Breccia drives, Long Creek and Lava Mountain subdivisions, Triangle C Ranch, old KOA, Timberline Ranch and Rawhide Ranches, among other areas.

"Extreme winds and fire behavior have caused extreme fire behavior and rapid fire movement to these developments," Vinich wrote. The National Weather Service issued a red flag wind warning Sunday covering the area from Jackson to Pinedale, Lander to Cody and other parts of Wyoming.

Winds gusted to 45 mph across Union Pass — about 30 miles south of Togwotee — on Sunday, according to a weather station linked to the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center.

The Dubois Rodeo Grounds will serve as the shelter for evacuated livestock, according to Vinich's notice, and a Red Cross shelter was being set up for residents. The Bridger-Teton ordered a "complex incident management team," the agency said in a statement.

The Pack Trail Fire is in remote terrain north of the Gros Ventre River with "very difficult access," Jackson District Ranger Todd Stiles said in a statement. "Tree density and heavy dead and snag tree components make it very dangerous to put firefighters on the ground.

"After initial attempts to access the Pack Trail Fire by our local helitack firefighters, it was determined that attempts to put a larger force on the ground would likely be unsuccessful, and could result in high likelihood of injury," he said. Early aerial water drops had no effect, the agency said.

Fire managers are confronting the fires with a confinement and point protection strategy that seeks to corral them using firefighters and terrain features, plus crews stationed at and fireproofing developments.

The fires forced the closure of Highway 26/287 over Togwotee Pass for about an hour Sunday. The National Weather Service forecasts continued clear and sometimes breezy conditions in coming days, with little chance of rain or snow that would help calm the fires. Cooler temperatures are expected.