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Mule Forest Fire 2002 Pictures
by
O. Ned Eddins

The summer of 2002 presented me with an opportunity to observe the Mule Fire in Sublette County, Wyoming, from start to finish. The area burned by the Mule Fire was on the north side of North Horse Creek about twenty miles from the Mountain Man Rendezvous of 1833, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1839, and 1840. As a fur trade historian, it was important to me that this area not be destroyed by fire. Despite disgust and anger at the way the fire was initially handled by local forest service personnel, the experience gave me a greater appreciation of the problems involved.

The fire was started by a lightning strike that had smoldered for several days. The first smoke was on July 11, 2002.

                                                      Mule Fire 2002

Three days later the Mule Fire blew up.

                                                        Mule Fire - Crown Fire

The next morning, Roby McNeel, the son of the owner of the cattle on Spring Creek, and I was at the head of the canyon at daylight to roundup and bring out the cattle. Fireballs from the crown fire had crossed over Mill Creek to the head of Spring Creek, which is well over a mile from the crown fire area. These fireballs set several small areas on fire.

 
                                                           Burning Stump

This stump was burning until Roby answered a call of nature and put out the flame.

These fireball-started fires did not spread because the fireballs lit in areas of green plants with high moisture content. The moisture content of the trees, plants, and soil play a key role in the severity of forest fires, as is shown by this green area around an elk wallow.

                                                               Elk Wallow

As we reached the mouth of Spring Creek with the cattle, a Type II Incident Management Team  arrived from the North Carolina Forest Service. The Incident Team assumed complete control of the Mule Fire. Besides the fifty people on the management team, there were at various times, crews from Idaho, New York, Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas. In addition to these people, there were emergency medical teams from Rock Springs, Wyoming, local firemen and law enforcement officers, and forest service personnel from Utah, Sublette County, and Jackson, Wyoming.

The Mule Fire ranked 43rd on the National Priority List of Fires because no structures were endangered. Despite the majority of these crews coming from areas near sea level to an elevation from 7500 to over 9000 feet, the fire was attacked as if it was the number one fire on the list. Within hours after the North Carolina management team arrived, my feeling was that this fire would be contained. I cannot speak for all fires, or fire personnel, but on the Mule Fire, it amazed me how hard the crews worked under difficult conditions and terrain.

Excerpts from a press release prepared on July 23rd by Teresa Odom, information officer, of the North Carolina Forest Service gives a typical day’s activity. The inserted pictures were not part of the press release.

One super Huey 205, one Bell Jet Ranger, along with the Teton Helitack Helicopter flew in 14,428 pounds of cargo, and delivered 36,963 gallons of water on the fire logging 16.3 hours of flight time.

 
                                                 Helicopter with Bucket

The crewmembers aboard the Teton Helitack Helicopter were repelled from the helicopter yesterday to help strategically locate equipment positions on the fire.

                                                           Huey Helicopter

Infrared flights yesterday detected some hot spots along the fire perimeter south of Lead Creek. After several days of drying these areas could ignite and spot across containment lines if the forecasted winds pass through the area. Crews will work extinguishing those areas today.

                                                       Idaho Fire Fighters

Presently the Mule fire is 3,585 acres and is 65% contained. Resources currently working the Mule fire include eighteen 20-person hand crews, four ten-person camp crews, four helicopters, three dozers, fourteen wildland engines, and a type II National Incident Management Team from the North Carolina Forest Service, www.tetonfires.com/.  

On July 25th the fire was 100% contained, and on July 29th a type III Incident Team took over the restoration work and to monitor the burned areas. At this point, the fire had burned 3,982 acres at a cost of $4,395,866 dollars. 

The management team and fire personnel were able to confine the Mule Fire to the south-facing slopes, instead of the heavier timbered north-facing slopes, and the fire did not burn hot enough to sterilize the ground. Due to their efforts, next year there will be re-growth of grasses and bushes on the fire-fertilized ground...I was wrong on this. I rode back up to the strip clear cut area a year later, and there was little new growth.  

The Mule Fire did as little overall damage as could possibly be hoped for. The worst burned area was not far from where the night fire picture was taken.

                                                          Red Canyon Area

There are three major reasons for the Mule Fire being contained within small areas: (1) Incidents Teams management skills in directing the fire, along with the hard work and dedication of the fire personnel involved, (2) this area was heavily logged by the tie-hackers (for railroad ties) in the nineteen-thirties, so in many areas there was not a build up of downfall from old growth timber, (3) logging with strip clear-cuts was permitted in this area by the Bridger-Teton Forest Service into the mid-nineties.

This picture taken on the ridge separating Mill Creek and Spring Creek clearly shows the value of clear cuts in forest fire management. The fire burned up to the clear cut areas and stopped.

                                                Strip Clear Cut Stops Fire

Small spot fires burned into September. These fires were in areas that presented no danger of spreading and were allowed to burn...notice the green ground cover and lack of downfall.

Points of interest on the Horse Creek Mule Fire:  

The Incident Command System (ICS):
Managing emergency incidents like wild land fires can be complex, confusing and inefficient, usually because multiple agencies at the Federal, state and local levels are trying to work with each other in a pressure-packed situation. To put total control of the fire under one management team was developed in the United States almost 30 years ago. The Incident Management System (ICS) has become the system envied and imitated by emergency response organizations around the world, http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm

Percentage breakdown of fire costs:

Fire Crews                                     32%
Aircraft                                           24%
Management Personnel              17%
Camp Support                              16%
Equipment                                      6%
Supplies                                           3%

At this altitude (~8000 feet) the smaller Huey could carry 250 gallons and the super Huey 400 gallons of water, whereas at sea level, they can carry several thousand gallons.

Maximum number on fire line   449
Support People                             106

2500-calorie meals were served three times a day. This is 5500 calories higher than what is recommended for the average diet, and from talking to people on the fire line, every morsel was devoured.

The large Huey cost $18,000 dollars a day to standby, while flight time ranged from $1800 to $3000 dollars an hour...this sounds extremely expensive, but helicopters are the most effective means of controlling and directing a fire. 

I would like to thank the following forest service personnel for providing me information on the 2002 Mule Forest Fire.

North Carolina Forest Service Incident Team
       Teresa Odom, Information Officer
       Dan Smith, Incident Commander
       Bob Houseman, Chief of Field Operations

Bridger-Teton National Forest
       Jay Anderson, Information Officer
       Mary Lendman, Information Officer

The Mule Fire article was written by O. Ned Eddins of Afton, Wyoming. Permission is given for material from this site to be used for school research papers.

I Post You Decide - The replies, pro and con, to the forest fire article give various perspectives on forests fires, and are well worth reading. These replies are at the bottom of the Forest Mismanagement Page.

Article References and Article Citation are at bottom of article.

Do you need an easy personalized gift? My first historical novel  Mountains of Stone will be signed with your message, and along with a picture CD, mailed directly to anyone you designate. Click on book cover for details.

Mountains of Stone contains an abridged account of the important aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as well as, some of the major Hudson's Bay and North West Company explorers. The extensive bibliography for Mountains of Stone served as background information on the articles for this website. 

There have been many requests for copies of pictures from the website, and I have put the best pictures, and others from Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, and Star Valley, Wyoming, on a CD. The pictures make beautiful screensavers, or can be used as a slide show in Windows XP. When ordering Mountains of Stone, request the CD and I will send it free with the book.

                                                  
                                                Mountains of Stone Picture CD

Winds of Change, sequel to Mountains of Stone, will be published this summer. All of the people that purchased Mountains of Stone (except the dead beats) will be notified by email when Winds of Change is available. For those that ordered Mountains of Stone, the price for Winds of Change will be the same. For those on the Mountains of Stone list, it will not hurt to fill out the Winds of Change order form in case there is an email foul up. To view chapter headings click on Winds of Change.

Winds of Change is concerned with the early effects of westward expansion on the Northwest and Plains Indians. The time frame for Winds of Change is 1810 to 1813. My plan was for Winds of Change to go through the rendezvous system, but there was just too much interesting history associated with Tecumseh and the Northwest Indian Wars, Mountain Man-Indian Fur Trade, Factory Trading System, Astorians, and Western Expansion across the Mississippi River.

Chapter Headings

The Piegan
Fort Raymond
War Rumbles
Osage Post
Tecumseh
General William Clark
St. Louis
The Spanish
Comanche
Cheyenne
Winds of Change
Indian Horse
 Astorians
South Pass
Bibliography
Addendum

An addendum was added to Winds of Change that covers a collection of short historical facts related to the Rocky Mountain and Canadian fur trade and the Oregon and Mormon migrations. At the close of the Rocky Mountain Man Rendezvous in 1840, the first settler family traveled the Oregon Trail--western expansion had begin. Within the next ten to fifteen years, over five hundred thousand people migrated to Oregon, Utah, and California.

The back cover of Winds of Change.

                                              Winds of Change - Back Cover

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Citation: Eddins, Ned. (Name of Article). Thefurtrapper.com. Afton, Wyoming. 2003.

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