Commissioners get fire updates

During their February 16 meeting, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners heard updates on both the Mullen Fire and the Hanna RR 316 Fire from Lenny Layman, Carbon County Emergency Manager. 

The commissioners were also updated on the status of a State Lands Investment Board (SLIB) grant for a Type 6 fire engine for the Carbon County Fire Department.

Mullen Fire

Starting on September 17 just outside the Savage Run Wilderness, the Mullen Fire grew to be one of the largest fires in Wyoming history. Before full containment, the fire had grown to more than 170,000 acres in size and moved both east and south from Carbon County into Albany County and Jackson County in Colorado.

“Roughly 90 percent of the burn scar … drains into the North Platte,” said Layman. “With the heightened awareness that we always have every year of the North Platte flooding, now because of the Mullen burn scar, the water’s going to reach the drainage a lot quicker (and) potentially bringing debris down.”

As was reported previously (see “Soils and sediment” on page 3 of the November 18, 2020 Saratoga Sun), Carbon County Fire Warden Ron Brown had conducted a site visit of the fire and had provided information developed by a Burn Area Emergency Response (BAER) team to determine the potential amount of debris flow. That map showed high probability in the Lower Douglas Creek Area and the Six Mile Creek Area.

Layman informed the BOCCC that a meeting was scheduled in March in which the National Weather Service would join the Town of Saratoga, the A Bar A Ranch, the Carbon County Fire Warden, the Carbon County Road and Bridge Department and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department to discuss potential impacts from the debris flow.

Hanna RR 316 Fire

Prior to the Mullen Fire east of Encampment, the area around Hanna had been scorched by the RR 316 Fire. The quick moving grass fire, which ended up burning approximately 14,000 acres, largely avoided the town of Hanna but did singe some outlying areas such as the water treatment plant and the cemetery.

According to Layman, he and representatives from the Town of Hanna, the Hanna Volunteer Fire Department, the Medicine Bow Conservation District and the Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Conservation District performed a site visit as they prepared to apply for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG).

“What the group decided to really focus on are two areas; the water treatment plant and the cemetery,” said Layman. “Then, pretty much, the burn scar that resides to the west of Hanna. What we have decided to go after as far as some project details is—number one, first and foremost—the water treatment plant.”

Layman informed the BOCCC that the 25 foot deep holding pond utilized by the water treatment plant was showing accumulation of debris caused by lack of vegetation from the RR 316 Fire burn scar. The first task for the holding pond would be to dredge the pond followed by establishing a solid barrier around the pond. There was also consideration for a snow fence and a living snow fence around the holding pond.

Similarly, the lack of vegetation in the burn scar surrounding Hanna had led to snow and sediment gathering in the cemetery. Layman stated that work would be done to clean up the cemetery and establish similar barriers around the cemetery.

With the amount of volunteer work needed for the projects, and with the potential to have volunteer hours count towards matching funding for the FMAG, the Town of Hanna will be selecting a volunteer coordinator. Carbon County, meanwhile, will coordinate the funding of the FMAG.

Firetruck Update

In August 2020, the BOCCC had approved Resolution 2020-37, which authorized Brown to apply for a SLIB grant totalling $80,000 for the purchase of a Type 6 fire engine. The fire warden informed the commissioners that the grant had been approved for the $80,000 and that specifications on the vehicle were being taken care of.

Unlike fire engines normally seen in municipalities and urban areas, Type 6 fire engines are designed for more rural use and are built on a pickup truck frame and are used primarily in wildland fire responses. Additionally, while other fire engines may be able to carry a few hundred gallons of water, a Type 6 fire engine carries up to 150 gallons and pumps around 50 gallons per minute.

“The only disappointing part, due to COVID, it looks like a lot of these places are running skeleton crews as they’re building these trucks,” said Brown. “So there may be the potential—once we do get it submitted, get the bid process done, get it awarded—it may be next fall, next winter before that piece of apparatus is completed.”

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on March 2 at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.