Fast-spreading wildfire breaks out in Gros Ventre
JACKSON (WNE) — Firefighters on Tuesday afternoon began suppressing a fast-spreading wildfire on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The Kinky Creek Fire is burning about 3 miles south of the Darwin Ranch near the upper Gros Ventre Falls in the Gros Ventre Wilderness.
The fire was 20 acres by Tuesday afternoon and had high spread potential because it is burning in timber on a steep slope and spotting, said CJ Adams, a spokesperson for the forest. Spotting means that wind is moving embers and sparks out of the fire’s main perimeter, causing it to grow.
Its estimated size at 8:34 p.m. Tuesday was 350 acres, according to the Watch Duty app.
There’s a lot of dead and downed fuel near the fire, Adams said.
Officials had not yet determined the fire’s cause, but there was recent lightning in the area, Adams said.
Two helicopters, smokejumpers and multiple fire crews are working to suppress the fire. The forest requested additional resources outside of Teton Interagency Fire, which serves the Bridger-Teton, Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway.
Firefighters want two additional helicopters and more fire crews, Adams said. The forest was also seeking an incident management team to come in and take control of the suppression effort.
The fire is the second to break out near the Darwin Ranch this season. Fire managers extinguished a very small lightning-caused fire, the Ouzel Falls Fire, on May 25.
The Kinky Creek Fire came on the heels of two smaller fires Monday.
Federal and county fire managers last week raised fire danger levels to high for Teton, Sublette and Lincoln counties, as well as Grand Teton National Park, the Bridger-Teton and the National Elk Refuge.
This story was published on June 24, 2026.
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