Fire season is ramping up here in northern Wyoming and people are asking where the smoke is coming from. People are also going out into the wilderness and other wildfire-prone areas and need to know where there are fires that can affect their recreational activities (click here to read an article from REI Co=Op about what to do if you’re in the wilderness and there’s a fire).
So we’ve put together this list of resources where you can go to find out where the fires are in your neck of the woods and hills, as well as to get information on fires across the U.S. It’s a work in progress, so if you have other places you check regularly to get information on fires, please contact us and we’ll add it in.
Local and some statewide media cover fires as they are newsworthy and often photogenic. Local media outlets in the Bighorn Basin area and statewide outlets that cover our area include:
- Northern Wyoming News in Worland
- Sheridan Media serving Sheridan and Buffalo and the Bighorn Mountains
- Cody Enterprise serving the northern Bighorn Basin
- Greybull Standard, Basin Republican-Rustler, and Lovell Chronicle
- Buffalo Bulletin
- Wyoming Public Media also covers the Bighorn Basin
- KTVQ out of Billings often covers the Basin
The Riverton office of the National Weather Service often has information on fires in our area as they provide decision support to firefighting crews. You will see a “decision support” link on their website above the map.
The Cody Interagency Dispatch Center’s WildCAD page has a text-based list of wildfires in our area. The website is http://www.wildcad.net/WCWY-CDC.htm.
InciWeb is “an interagency all-risk incident information management system” that has both graphical and tabular interfaces. Their information is not always current but is updated every morning.
The U.S. Forest Service has a list of resources on this page. They have a nearly real-time-updated Interactive Wildfire Map that shows active fires as well as satellite fire detections.
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) issues an Incident Management Situation Report (IMSR) every morning. You can download the reports and access other information at https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information. Wyoming is in the Rocky Mountain Area but fires near us can be in other areas’ listings.
The Wyoming BLM office has good and generally updated information on their Facebook page.
Bighorn Basin Firesmart’s Facebook page has some information on local and area fires as it becomes available. Like and “favorite” us to see our posts at the top of your newsfeed.