Crews work to save what’s left of Hoback Ranch

By Emily Mieure
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
JACKSON — Fire has devastated the neighborhood of Hoback Ranches and residents there and in surrounding areas are worried that the worst isn’t over.
“We’ve seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr told a group of about 50 worried residents at a Tuesday evening community briefing. “This is very difficult.”
Deputies are assessing the damage in the Hoback Ranches subdivision, where 40 structures have already burned.
But there are more than 150 houses altogether and there are still areas of the neighborhood that aren’t safe to enter.
“We plan to visit every residence,” Lehr said. “But some of it is inaccessible because of fallen trees, and it’s still unsafe for our team to go in there.”
Officials told residents that crews are working hard and fast to prevent any more houses from burning.
“It’s the hardest to deliver a message that a loved one has died,” Lehr said, “but having to tell someone their home of three decades is gone is right up there.”
Incident Commander Tony DeMasters told the crowd there will be close to 1,000 firefighters working the 50,000-acre blaze by the end of the week.
“If we have to we will continue to run day and night operations,” DeMasters said.
The residents thanked and applauded the hard work of the firefighters.
“The firefighters are in there day and night to do as much structure protection as they can,” Lehr said.
Vince Sellers has a cabin in Hoback Ranches and was one of the last to leave.
“I denied the evacuation,” Sellers said, “because I’m stubborn and I have fire experience.”
The 50-year-old, a former Jackson Hole Fire/EMS firefighter, finally decided to leave Sept. 19 when he could see flames from his house.
“The fire was too close for comfort at that point,” he said. “But I went back in the next day. It was charred.”
Sellers said his cabin, which he’s owned since 2000, was spared so far because he set up a sprinkler system before he evacuated.
But many of his neighbors haven’t been as lucky.
“The saddest part is the homes that are lost,” he said. “We are a tight-knit community.”
Sellers said some of his neighbors hope to rebuild but many of the elderly folks probably won’t return.
“Fires have been our biggest fear ever since we moved in,” Sellers said.