Two Campbell County wildfires caused highway closures

GILLETTE — The Campbell County Fire Department continues to fight two wildfires that started Wednesday, and portions of Interstate 90 and North Highway 59 were closed while firefighting efforts continued. They have since reopened.

The Constitution Fire, which started north of town in the area of Collins Road and McGee Road, was estimated to be approximately 3,000 acres Wednesday evening, and the Flat Rock Fire, 13 miles west of Gillette on Echeta Road, was estimated at 500 acres.

Thursday morning, Campbell County Fire Marshal Stuart Burnham said he doesn’t have a confirmed size on either fire, and that lightning is suspected to have caused both fires.

Firefighters and Campbell County Road and Bridge worked through the night fighting both fires, neither of which are contained as of Thursday morning.

North Highway 59 was closed from mile marker 126, a few miles north of the county’s landfill, to the Montana state line. And a fire in Johnson County, the House Draw Fire, prompted the closure of I-90 east of Buffalo. Both highways are now open.

Local firefighters have not been involved yet in fighting this fire.

Campbell County sent out pre-evacuation orders to those in northern Campbell County, including everyone north of Rawhide Mine to Horse Creek and east of Highway 14-16. And evacuation orders were issued for the Weston Hills Recreation Area and in the area of Arvada.

Campbell County Emergency Management Coordinator David King said it’s possible that a few more rural subdivisions west of Gillette could get pre-evacuation orders Thursday, depending on how the firefighting efforts go.

King said he had never issued a pre-evacuation order until Wednesday evening. The point of this order is to give people a chance to plan ahead for evacuating “before we say ‘run for the hills.’”

“Be ready to run, rather than getting caught flat-footed,” he said.

Burnham said that some structures have been damaged from the fires and others are threatened, but the fire department is working to figure out how much damage has been done.

“Flat Rock was moving so quickly, when it started to damage structures we were going to run against nightfall,” Burnham said. “We haven’t had a chance to see what exactly has taken place.”

This story was published on August 22, 2024.  Updates on the road closures were made by WNE on August 23 at 8:45 a.m. based on WYDOT’s website.