New forest fires ignite in western Wyoming

Crews are battling a blaze blocking a route to Yellowstone National Park and the region of Jackson Hole as summertime visitors flock to the popular northwest Wyoming areas.

US 191/189 between Daniel Junction and Hoback Junction is closed with the fire burning on both sides of the highway.

The regional office of the U.S. Forest Service will conduct a community meeting about the Cliff Creek Fire at the Bondurant School at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 20.

Teton County Emergency Management has issued an evacuation order for Granite Creek due to the Cliff Creek fire, which is estimated to have burned about almost 3,000 acres since it started Sunday.

According to a press release from the Shoshone National Forest Office, the fire grew an additional 450 acres Wednesday night.

That stretch of highway is used by about 2,600 vehicles a day during July. However, there are several alternate routes available to travelers along I-80 that also lead to the region.

Jeff Golightly, of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, says there hasn’t been an extraordinary interruption in tourism to Jackson. “There hasn’t been an extraordinary interruption in tourism to Jackson”. The area has mostly small rural subdivisions and ranches.

A few people registered with a Red Cross shelter that was opened in Jackson, about 25 miles away, but most apparently found other temporary lodging, Harger said.

Fire spokeswoman Ronda Bishop said strong winds that hit the fire Wednesday raised concern that it was too unsafe to reopen the highway.

Residents in the area of MacKenzie Highland Ranch to Lava Creek Ranch have been evacuated.

Officials downgraded the estimate of the fire’s size by about half, to just over half a square mile.