𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗘𝗹𝗸 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲

In recent years, the City of Sheridan has proactively developed contingency plans to mitigate the impact of events like the Elk Fire on city infrastructure. Understanding the Elk Fire’s unpredictability, we are now deploying additional resources to protect our water treatment plants, ensuring the integrity of our freshwater system.

City staff has cleared extra vegetation around the Big Goose Water Treatment Plant and the Intake Site to reduce the fire risk. In a strong collaborative effort, the US Forest Service has allocated extra resources to safeguard this critical facility, ensuring residents’ and the Sheridan Area Water System (SAWS) customers’ continued supply of clean water. Additionally, the Elk Fire Incident Command has prioritized the entire water system as an infrastructure protection priority.

The Sheridan water intake supplies water to both the Big Goose and the Sheridan water treatment plants, which in turn provide freshwater to residents of the City of Sheridan and to SAWS customers. The facility is capable and expected to be able to continuously provide water to the Sheridan plant regardless of the impact of the Elk Fire. The Big Goose Water Treatment Plant is situated in such a way as to minimize the risk of fire and can be operated remotely with redundant systems. Should it fail, the impact will be minimal as the Sheridan Water Treatment Plant has the ability to back-flow water as far as Beckton Hall Road.

While the freshwater treatment system is not currently in danger, the City of Sheridan is taking precautions to ensure a calm and organized response in the event the facilities are impacted.

There is currently no requirement for residents to take any special measures, but we recommend that residents remain vigilant and check with local media sites along with the Sheridan County Website throughout the weekend as information is updated.

The City of Sheridan and all of its partner organizations are committed to providing updates as more information becomes available, ensuring that you are always informed about the situation.

We appreciate the public’s attention and thank everyone for cooperating in these efforts. As we work together, we will emerge stronger than ever as a resilient community.