Pinedale Online!
www.PinedaleOnline.com
www.Pinedale.com

Pinedale on the Web!
Pinedale, Wyoming

Home | Calendar of Events | Photo Gallery | Local Businesses |

Pinedale Online > News > July 2007 > Aftermath of the Pole Fire

Grass fire. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Grass fire
What started as a small grass fire on the hills north of Pole Creek Road quickly escalated into a serious fire that threatened homes near Pinedale on Thursday.

Flames near town. Photo by Dave Bell.
Flames near town
Strong winds pushed flames west towards homes north of Pinedale. Photo by Dave Bell.

Retardant planes quickly brought in. Photo by Dave Bell.
Retardant planes quickly brought in
The Forest Service brought in four retardant planes and had two helicopters helping with aerial support.

Close to homes. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Close to homes
The fire burned perilously close to the homes in the Favazzo, Charmichael Hills and Orcutt Hills subdivisions just north of Pinedale. Firefighters kept the flames on the south side of the Fremont Lake Road (left side in this photo).

Burned to road. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Burned to road
The fire burned to the south side of the Fremont Lake road, right up to private property. Firefighters kept the blaze from going over to the north side of the road.

Jumped the road. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Jumped the road
The fire crossed Skyline Drive and burned on the east side of the road that goes to Lakeside Lodge and the summer homes.

Lakeside Lodge road. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Lakeside Lodge road
This is where the fire crossed over to the north side of Skyline Drive. This is the intersection of Skyline Drive and the Lakeside Lodge road, as seen on Friday morning after the fire. Many fire crews were out on patrol and doing mop up.

Homes at risk. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Homes at risk
The fire quickly approached homes in the Favazzo, Charmichael Hills and Orcutt Hill subdivisions. Residents were told to evacuate and had only minutes to decide what to grab and what to leave as the wind shifted and drove flames towards their homes.

Burned fire signs. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Burned fire signs
These burned signs were located at the road junction to Lakeside Lodge and the Fremont Lake campground. View from the junction looking south. Pole Creek valley and road are a mile or so behind the hills in the background. The signs read "No campfires. No charcoal grills. Stoves OK". It is believed this fire may have started from a spark from a transformer on a power pole on the Fayette Ranch.

Back burn. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Back burn
Firefighters did a back burn along the south side of the Fremont Lake road to create a black line to stop the fire approaching subdivisions. This is between the homes on the south side of Fremont Lake Road and the Fremont Lake overlook, as seen on Friday morning.

Fire crossed road to lake. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Fire crossed road to lake
View Friday morning looking east along the lower Fremont Lake Road just after the Lakeside Lodge turnoff. The fire crossed the road from the right (south) and burned north to the lake (a short distance away to the left out of this photo). The fire burned just east of the Sandy Beach Day Use area.
Aftermath of the Pole Fire
by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
July 14, 2007

Editor's Note: More photos added July 16, 2007. Scroll to the end of this article for viewer comments expressing their feelings about this fire and how it impacted them.
_____________________________________
The Pole fire began on private land southeast of Pinedale Thursday afternoon, July 12, 2007. The fire burned in sagebrush and grass on the hills between Pole Creek Road and Fremont Lake Road. Crews quickly responded and a helicopter with a bucket was diverted off the Salt Lick fire to work on this blaze.

At first, the fire did not appear to threaten any structures and it appeared the crews and helicopter would be able to quickly extinguish the grass fire. However, winds picked up and quickly spread the fire over the ridge to the north in the direction of Lakeside Lodge and the Fremont Lake Summer Homes. It was also moving in the direction of the Forest Service Upper Fremont Campground.

Emergency crews scrambled as the threat of the fire seriously escalted threatening many structures and private homes north of Pinedale. One side of the fire reached the south side of Skyline Drive and crossed over burning towards Fremont Lake. Another side of the fire moved south towards homes north of Pinedale along the Fremont Lake Road.

The fire burned powerlines and poles in the Pole Creek area causing Rocky Mountain Power to shut down a circuit on the Pinedale substation, cutting power to around 1,100 customers in south Pinedale and the Boulder area.

The Forest Service issued mandatory evacuation orders for Lakeside Lodge, Fremont Lake campgrounds, Half Moon Lake campground, Elkhart Park and White Pine Ski Area. The Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders for first the Favazzo subdivision, then broadened it to include the Charmichael Hills and Orcutt Hills subdivisions just north of town. All evacuation ordershave been lifted and people can return to their homes.

The fire quickly became the #2 priority fire in the United States for fire fighting resources. Four retardant planes were brought in, along with two helicopters. Every available emergency personnel came to assist. Many community members and businesses stepped in to offer help with the displaced people. Some people from Lakeside Lodge and the southern Fremont Lake area were led down the Pinedale bike path and a two track around the CCC Ponds to escape the approaching flames, until smoke and flames cut off that escape route. The others caught east of the fire were taken to the boat ramps and boats used to evacuate people from campgrounds and Sylvan Bay summer homes.

Winds turned the fire towards Pinedale, lessening the threat to the Forest Service campgrounds and Lakeside Lodge. Those evacuees were able to be taken by vehicle on the roads and staged at the turnoff to Lakeside Lodge on Skyline Drive until they were given the all clear to be led by officials back the Fremont Lake Road back into Pinedale. That road was opened and closed several times as the fire shifted direction and dense smoke brought visiblity down to zero.

The scene was a fast-paced race of organized chaos as emergency personnel scrambled to evacuate people and move them to safety and stop the front of the fire. Dense smoke billowed over Pinedale and rolled through town. Pinedale was just beginning the first days of the four-day annual Green River Rendezvous Days and there were many visitors in town to add to the confusion of moving people to safety. The Type II Fire Management Overhead team that had just arrived to work on the Salt Lick Fire immediately switched to help with Pinedale's Pole Fire.

Shell Rocky Mountain Production opened up their building and resources in Pinedale to help. EnCana and Questar also pitched in offering resources. EnCana offered lodging at their Sand Draw mancamp for any displaced people. Visitors staying at local motels bunked together to create more room for anyone who needed a place to stay. Obo's in Pinedale offered to help with food. The Pinedale VFW offered their facilities. Triple Peak Lodge offered rooms for lodging. People displaced from Lakeside Lodge and the campgrounds quickly had several options for places to spend the night if they had to.

Evacuees were taken to the Pinedale High School and a database started for names contacts for people location. Frequent updates of the fire status were broadcast live by Bob Rule on Pinedale's KPIN 101.1 FM radio, as well as posted on this website. The Sheriff's Office and Forest Service put out regular updates to get information out to the public as best they could, which was an enormous task with the fast-changing emergency conditions. The biggest crisis was curious people driving up Fremont Lake Road to take a look at the fire, causing a huge traffic jam, which turned into a crisis situation when the winds shifted and emergency personnel needed to get people out. The Sheriff's office first closed the road at the Fremont Lake overlook, then moved the closure down to the Pinedale ballfields, then down at the base of the Fremont Lake Road by Faler's General Store.

Fire crews did wonders to protect all structures and keep the flames from moving off BLM onto private lands. They were able to keep the fire on the south side of the Fremont Lake/Skyline Drive road in most places, out of the subdivisions.

As if by a miracle, rain started falling from the sky around 10:00 PM greatly helping firefighters in their efforts. As quickly as everything began, the fire was brought under control and the crisis ended. The roads were opened and residents allowed to return to their homes. The power company got electricity restored to most residents Thursday evening, and the rest had power by Friday.

Wetting rains throughout the evening calmed considerably on Friday. Lakeside Lodge and White Pine Ski Area reopened, as well as Fremont Lake and Half Moon Lake campgrounds, and visitors and staff allowed to return.

Fire crews continue to patrol the fire perimeter to make sure all the hot spots are out. The cause of the fire has been determined to be "human caused". Unofficially, it is believed there may have been a short in a transformer that caused a spark which ignited the blaze on the Fayette Ranch.

COMMENTS:

“I am very emotional as you can imagine (that is my house featured in the Dave Bell photo of the burning ridge with the threatened home) and I just want to say thank you to as many people as I can. So I am sending this to Pinedale Online to try to reach every one that I should. It probably doesn't even make sense for your web site, but I had to send it any how. All the best:

Open letter of gratitude:

I can’t let another minute go by without writing to say thank you to every one of you that helped protect my home as well as my neighbors’ homes during last night’s fire along Fremont Lake Road. Without your efforts, I have absolutely no doubt that I would have returned this morning to ashes instead of my house.

When I was evacuated at 6 p.m., I was given a few minutes to take what I most wanted to take and then leave. If you haven’t even gone through this kind of experience, let me tell you first hand that it is very enlightening. What mattered to me were memories: the photo albums, framed photos, and important papers. Of equal importance were my cats (even though most every one thinks they are weird!). Once all of these were rounded up and in my vehicle to bolt down the road, I had to believe that every thing that was left behind was simply ‘stuff.’

Stuff is replaceable. Even homes are replaceable. But being able to come back home to all that ‘stuff’ inside my still-standing home was unbelievably dear, and this was able to happen because of the super efforts of our fire fighters on the ground and in the air.

From the deputies to the fire fighters, the EMTS and emergency management staff, the school personnel and the volunteers who so quickly offered their homes and corrals for evacuees and livestock, my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation. To every one that has been so supportive during this shocking time, thank you. What I most want to say is I am so lucky to not only be able to go home, but also that my home is in Sublette County." - With deep appreciation, Joanne Garnett, 164 Fremont Lake Road

She continues with:

"And many thanks to you for keeping us informed. I relied on your web site Friday morning to let me know what was going on. (That's when I also got the shock of seeing the photo of my house close to the flames!) Many thanks for all you do." - Joanne Garnett, Pinedale
_____________________________________

“Keep up the good work on the fire news. I am stuck in New Orleans for work. You are my only source of news from Pinedale.” – Pinedale resident
_____________________________________

“Thank you so much for the constant updates on the Pole fire. My husband and I used to live in Pinedale and still have many friends there. We were also volunteers on the fire department. I have been sitting here reading your updates on the fire, with a pounding heart, hoping and praying that everyone, the town and all of the structures would be OK. What a relief with your last update that it is raining in Pinedale. Thank goodness! I can go to bed and sleep tonight knowing that everyone will be OK. Again, thank you so much, it was a great comfort to be able to check the websites for constant updates!” – Laramie
_____________________________________

“A great big THANK YOU!! for your help this evening and to all the others I called! It's frustrating being in Rock Springs while fire rages in Pinedale in the area of our cabin. We're driving up Friday morning to see just how far the fire got! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!” – Rock Springs
_____________________________________

“Thanks for all the updates all night. Hope tomorrow is a calmer day for you all.” – Daniel
_____________________________________

“Just wanted to thank you all for your coverage of the Pole Creek Fire. The many updates, photos, and info was awesome. Our daughter and son-in-law are in one of the homes that was evacuated -- so between their phone calls and your updates, we felt like we were practically there! Excellent job. Thanks again.” - Powell
_____________________________________

Photos by Dave Bell and Bob Rule/KPIN Radio as indicated, rest by Dawn Ballou-Pinedale Online! For more of Dave's photos of this fire see the Dave Bell Pinedale Fire Photo Gallery.



Related Links
  • Pole Creek Fire photos
  • Dave Bell Retardant Drop photos
  • Inciweb Pole Fire info

  • Up to Private Property. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM Radio.
    Up to Private Property
    The fire burned right up to the edge of private property and homes north of Pinedale. Photo by Bob Rule/KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale Radio.

    Charred fencepost. Photo by Bob Rule/KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale Radio.
    Charred fencepost
    The fire burned right to the edge of Fremont Lake Road. Retardant planes dropped slurry to protect these homes. Photo by Bob Rule/KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale Radio.

    Close Call. Photo by Rule/KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale Radio.
    Close Call
    The fire burned right up to subdivisions north of Pinedale. Photo by Bob Rule/KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale Radio.

    Fremont Lake homes. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Fremont Lake homes
    These homes are on the southwestern shore of Fremont Lake. The fire burned just west of these homes, between them and the access road to Lakeside Lodge. That arm of the fire jumped two paved roads and burned all the way down to the edge of Fremont Lake, just missing these homes and Lakeside Lodge.

    Crews checking burn areas. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Crews checking burn areas
    Fire crews patrol the burn area just south of Fremont Lake near the Day Use Area looking for hotspots on Friday.

    Sandy Beach Picnic Area parking. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Sandy Beach Picnic Area parking
    The fire reached the edge of the Forest Service Sandy Beach day-use picnic area on the lower end of Fremont Lake. The burn area reached just beyond the trees in the background. View from Friday, the day after the fire. Fire crews were carefully patroling the burn edge area on Friday, putting out any remaining smolderning spots and using chain saws to cut down anything that might cause the fire to flare up again and get into this area.

    Sandy Beach Day Use Area. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Sandy Beach Day Use Area
    The fire came to the eastern edge of the Sandy Beach picnic area, but was stopped before moving far into it.

    Naming Lake sign. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Naming Lake sign
    Crews kept the fire on the south side of the Fremont Lake Road. The Fremont Lake, "Naming of a Lake" sign didn't burn. It will still need to be replaced, however, because some jerk shot bullet holes into it over the winter, seriously damaging it.

    Ambulance on standby. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Ambulance on standby
    An ambulance was stationed at the Fremont Lake overlook on Friday in case EMT services were needed during the day after the fire.

    Fremont Lake Helibase. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Fremont Lake Helibase
    Fire crews set up a helibase near the summer homes near the Fremont Lake Road on Friday.

    Sandy Beach view. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Sandy Beach view
    Standing on Sandy Beach on the lower end of Fremont Lake looking southeast across the lake at the Day Use picnic area, which are the trees on the right. Burned trees are visible just over behind the point of rocks extending into the lake. The fire came very close to the picnic area.

    Lakeside Lodge fine. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Lakeside Lodge fine
    Firefighters had structure protection in place for Lakeside Lodge and their facilities. Fortunately, the wind shifted as the blaze neared and blew the brunt of the fire away from the lodge. The fire came to the lakeshore just east of the Sandy Beach Day Use area.

    Marina and fire. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Marina and fire
    View looking from the Lakeside Lodge boat dock south towards the Sandy Beach Day Use area on the far shore of the lake. The fire scorched to the water's edge just east of the picnic area. A few trees did get scorched, but the aspens were still green enough to resist the fast moving fire.

    Cabins OK. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Cabins OK
    The Lakeside Lodge cabins, RV park and summer homes all were barely missed by the fire.

    Marina boats. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Marina boats
    The boats in the marina are safe. The thunderstorm that changed the winds for the fire kicked up 3 to 4-foot waves across Fremont Lake, hitting the south shore. It was quite a storm on the lake, said Lakeside Lodge owner Greg Ptasnik. He checked on the boats multiple times during the storm and said all came through fine with no damage.

    Lakeside RV Park OK. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Lakeside RV Park OK
    Lakeside Lodge's RV parks are fine. So are the Fremont Lake Forest Service campgrounds. All RVs and campers are OK.

    Smoke over Fremont Lake. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Smoke over Fremont Lake
    Smoke settles over Fremont Lake Friday morning. The scene the night before was 3 to four foot waves churned up by a passing thunderstorm. Those winds drove the fire towards Pinedale. Emergency personnel used boats to evacuate some people from the Forest Service campgrounds and Sylvan Bay summer home area when the fire cut off the road escape route.

    Lower Fremont boat ramp. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Lower Fremont boat ramp
    This was the scene at the lower Fremont Lake boat ramp Friday morning. We're not sure if the storm caused this damage or if that was from some earlier event.

    Fremont Lake summer homes. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Fremont Lake summer homes
    The fire came to the southern end of Fremont Lake. Firefighters stopped it before it came around the lower end where these summer homes are located. This picture was taken Friday morning after the fire.

    CCC Bike Path extension. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    CCC Bike Path extension
    During the height of the fire Thursday, emergency people evacuated those trapped on the southern shore of Fremont Lake down two tracks around the CCC ponds as well as driving them down the CCC pond bike path to escape the approaching blaze. Friday morning. bladers were out working on the CCC bike path extension, which will continue that path from the CCC parking lot to where this photo was taken at the Lakeside Lodge-lower Fremont Lake road. The fire was stopped about 1/4 miles awy from reaching this point

    Moraine burn. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Moraine burn
    The fire burned the grass and sagebrush. This view was taken looking south from the Lakeside Lodge access road and Fremont Lake road junction. The hills in this landscape are part of the Fremont Lake glacial moraines, now exposed. The moraines are composed of dirt and rock debris dumped in place as the glaciers melted thousands of years ago. For anyone interested in geology, these are classic formations and now you have an even better view of how they look!
    Pinedale Online > News > July 2007 > Aftermath of the Pole Fire

    Pinedale Online!
    Pinedale Online! PO Box 2250, Pinedale, WY 82941
    Phone: (307) 360-7689 or (307) 276-5699, Fax: (307) 276-5414

    Office Outlet in Pinedale, 43 S. Sublette
    E-mail:support@pinedaleonline.com

    Copyright © 2007 Pinedale Online. All rights reserved.
    Pictures and content cannot be used in whole or part without permission.