GOSHEN COUNTY – Dozens of firefighters from around Goshen County were called in Sunday to help battle a growing fire in Platte County.
The call went out for volunteers from crews in Lingle, LaGrange, Hawk Springs, Torrington and more to battle the Britania Fire west of Wheatland about 5 p.m. Sunday. The fire reportedly started in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Albany County and had grown to almost 19,000 acres by Tuesday morning, with crews struggling to contain the blaze. About 150 local volunteer firefighters dealt with dry, windy weather driving the blaze.
According to a press release shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, several structures have been lost to the fire. That includes one home that’s presumed lost, but hadn’t been confirmed due to fire conditions and terrain making it difficult for crews to access some areas.
Control and firefighting duties were turned over to a Type III management team from Western and Southern Wyoming, which includes wildland firefighting crews from Florida. More crews are on the way, according to the press release.
Much of southwestern Wyoming, including Goshen and Platte counties, remained under critical fire weather conditions this week, with the situation getting worse Wednesday into Thursday, The National Weather Service in Cheyenne reported Tuesday. Anticipated west to southwest winds up to 25 miles per hour with sustained gusts of 35 mph will combine with relative humidity in the 8 to 15 percent range would lead to extreme danger of fires starting and increase the likelihood fires would spread rapidly once underway.
