Wyoming Had Near Average Fire Season In 2021

Although the average temperature for summer 2021 in Wyoming was above normal, the number of wildland fires were not.

Bill Crapser with the Wyoming State Forestry Division, says there were about 967 wildland fires in the Cowboy State in 2021, that did not need assistance from federal firefighting crews to put out.

That number is near average for the state.

The two biggest were the Crater Ridge Fire in the Big Horn Mountains which started in mid-July and burned more than 7,700 acres of land.

The other was the Deer Creek two grass fire west of Gillette in late July/early August, which burned more than 5,300 acres.

Crapser adds last year’s Wyoming fire season could have been worse, had it not been for two things.

“Compared to a lot of the surrounding states, we got during the summer, quite a bit more moisture, then we have in a lot of times with the conditions that we went into the spring with, so we were very fortunate last year. We had good response by counties and we did have a lot of breaks with the weather.”

Crapser says although snowpack levels in Wyoming may be below average for now, it’s too early to tell what kind of fire season the Cowboy State will have in the summer.

He adds the website, Predictive Services, says northeast Wyoming has above normal wildland fire potential in the month of June, and any part of Wyoming east of the Continental Divide, has above normal wildland fire potential in the month of July.

Click here to visit Predictive Services