Sheriff KC Lehr
Sublette County Sheriff KC Lehr gives an update on the damage assessment to date from the Roosevelt Fire.
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Roosevelt Fire public meeting held Sept. 25 in Bondurant
by Pinedale Online!
September 25, 2018
The Roosevelt Fire Team held a public information meeting at the Bondurant school on Tuesday, September 25th to give a fire update. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes. The meeting was broadcast live via Facebook Live and a recording is available to watch on the Bridger-Teton National Forest Facebook page: here.
Officials gave information on the current conditions from the last 24 hours, damage assessment, report on utilities, and answered questions from the audience. Here are highlights of what was said:
- Sheriff KC Lehr reported they are about 1/3 of the way through Hoback Ranches, mainly staying to the Rim area. The outlying roads are currently still inaccessible due to things like snags across the road and it isn’t safe yet for his team to get further in. They have covered down through Deer Haven about back up to Fisherman Creek. Haven’t gotten into the northwest area around Picnic Ridge Road, Mountain View, Crazy Moose or Fisherman Creek. They plan to visit every residence in Hoback Ranches. They are GPS referencing each location, photographing, overlaying with GIS data and working with the County Assessor to determine what structures were on that property and checking on what is left. The Sheriff’s Office is calling directly or meeting in person to notify them of the status of their property. Residents can be sent photographs if need be.
- On Rim Road in the 200s back down to 1 is where the fire line is right now. More than likely houses in that area are ok as of right now. They aren’t out of danger though. Firefighters are doing structure protection for homes in that area now.
- Sheriff Lehr said they have contacted about 50 of the 153 residences in Hoback Ranches area and of those 50, 22 have lost their homes. Other residents will be contacted as soon as the information is available. "It is very difficult," Sheriff Lehr said. "We ask for your patience. We will get to everyone eventually.
- In the Thunder Ridge and Jim Bridger Estates areas, only 1 structure has been lost and that was an old cow camp. Sheriff Lehr said he gives the highest accolades to firefighters protecting structures in those areas. "They’ve done an incredible job. It’s almost miraculous."
- The fire is about 25% contained at this point and there are just over 800 personnel working on the fire. More resources are on the way including 25 more engines. In the next couple of days there will be close to 1,000 personnel working on this fire.
- The burnout is taking place along Sergeant Road out to the highway. Burnout is happening day and night working along the highway edge out to the fire’s edge.
- On the southern end, North Beaver to South Beaver, firefighters are putting in hand line and dozers are working on line.
- In the Upper Hoback, all is looking good. There are some spot fires, which are contained. No problems there right now. Dozer line is being put in along the northern line of the fire to Fisherman Creek working towards Rim Station. Making very good progress with dozer line.
- Officials expect the road closure for US 191 for an estimated 24-48 hours for the back burn operations. Once the fire is done, officials must check the area along the highway for hazardous snags, rocks rolling onto the highway, and other debris to make sure the road is safe for passage by the public before the road is reopened.
- The highway is closed to commercial traffic. Bondurant residents can still get in and out from the north. Residents, hunters and recreationists can talk to the gatekeeper at the Hoback Junction gate and tell them they are wanting to get to Bondurant, or recreational facilities at Granite Creek, or those hunt areas out of the closure area, and they will be allowed through. There is no through traffic from Bondurant to Pinedale. Residents on the south (Warren Bridge, Daniel, Pinedale, etc) will not be allowed north through the hard closure area for approximately 48 hours while the firing operations are going on.
- The Roosevelt Fire is about 50,000 acres now. It grew about 1,500 acres last night (Monday, Sept. 24). The fire activity dropped off a bit today. There are some pockets still burning.
- There is minimal fire activity right now in the Hoback Ranches area and firefighters are suppressing the flanks. There is a lot of smoking and smoldering, but officials don’t expect anything to pick up in Hoback Ranches. There are still other hazardous conditions, chemicals, falling snags.
- There have been no severe accidents, injuries or loss of life to date for the Roosevelt Fire.
- Team members are coordinating with utility companies to assess damage to infrastructure to power utilities. There has been significant damage to above ground infrastructure. Utility teams are prepared and ready to go in and get to work in there as soon as they are given the word it is safe to go in. It could be an estimated 4-5 days. Power has been turned off to residents in the Rim Ranches area due to the back burn operations, which impacts other residents northeast of there (Upper Green, some Kendall Valley area residents have had their power turned off).
- There will be another public meeting on Wednesday night, Sept 26, at 6:00PM at the Daniel Schoolhouse. It will also be available to view in real time on Facebook Live with the recording available on the Bridger-Teton National Forest Facebook page afterwards.
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