Article Contributed on: 7/29/2008 1:55:58 PM
Editor's note: The information in this post is from July 29 and now outdated. For the latest information on the fires, see the links below.
As in Colorado, once you get up to the alpine elevations west of Cody, there are a lot of beetle-killed trees feeding fires burning around northwestern Wyoming and southern Montana.
The lightning-caused Gunbarrel Fire is burning about 35 to 40 miles west of Cody in the Shoshone National Forest. It's moving west across inaccessible mountain terrain and not a threat to any people or buildings, so the Forest Service is letting it burn.
Even though it's a ways from Cody, there's still a lot of smoke around, especially west of town, and when the wind picks up pretty much every evening, Cody gets really hazy and subtly smells like a campfire. It makes for some great sunsets, though. The attached photos are the haze and smoke from the Gunbarrel Fire from Cody.
The latest story about the Gunbarrel Fire from the Cody Enterprise is
here.
The latest Billings Gazette story is
here. An archive of Gazette stories about the fires in the area this summer is
here.
A second fire, the Cascade Fire, is burning west of Red Lodge, Mont., which is about 60 miles north of Cody, and could threaten the town of Red Lodge. More importantly, it is threatening
Red Lodge Mountain, a ski resort just outside of town.
I assume that the ski area would be open this winter unless there is major damage to the structures. Optimistically, the vast treeless areas in Vail's Back Bowls were created by a huge wildfire in the late 1800s, so there could even be a positive side.
But, seriously, I hope the fire doesn't reach Red Lodge and no one gets hurt and there is minimal or no damage.
There's Billings Gazette coverage of the Cascade Fire
here and a Cody Enterprise story
here.