Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, August 29th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by ServeWyoming - Wyoming's center for volunteerism and AmeriCorps service for the last 30 years! For volunteer opportunities, visit ServeWyoming dot org"

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For crews fighting large wildfires that have burned nearly 460,000 acres across northern Wyoming and southern Montana, timber is the enemy.

Like a yule log on a fireplace, it burns longer than grass and is harder to put out. That has made for persistent hot spots in the Flat Rock Fire burning west of Gillette, and Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the deep forest cover has made the Fish Creek Fire in northwest Wyoming impossible to approach in some areas.

"if you are wanting to go and chop down a tree in a forest packed with beetle kill standing dead trees, you try to chop one down, they could all fall on you. There's no safe evacuation route for you… So what they're doing is just a lot of indirect tactics. The lines that they're gouging out through the vegetation don't necessarily abut these fires perfectly. They're having to use natural features and other tricks to build the fire lines."

Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher was part of a packed crowd attending a public informational meeting about the devastating northeast Wyoming fires at the Cam-plex in Gillette on Tuesday night. She reports that communication has been an issue for both firefighters and residents anxious for the most up-to-date information on the Flat Rock fire.

"There was a lot of tensions during the thick of the fire, when the firefighters were out fighting fires and weren't adequately communicating what was happening on the ground to the community. So in that kind of void of information, there was a lot of tempers flaring, and people are understandably frustrated and scared, in some cases, because … the evacuation and pre evacuation order simply weren't clear, and people didn't know what that meant exactly. So the chief addressed that publicly and said that the communication is definitely an area they're going to work on."

Read the full story HERE.

Where fires have scorched grasslands and destroyed livestock - as well as the feeding grounds those livestock are dependent on - ranchers have joined together to help each other. Clair spoke to a rancher in Douglas who started a Facebook page called Wyoming Rancher Fire Relief.

"You see these ranchers coordinating like we need someone to deliver. Hey, here we've got an enclosed barn. Here we're donating medicine for cattle that are going to have trouble wintering now. So you're seeing just this hub of activity where these ranchers, a lot of home, have known each other for a long time and are super familiar with each other. Are just planning things out."

Read the full story HERE.

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While a regional team fighting four large wildfires in northeast Wyoming is urging people to call 911 if they see smoke or fire near those blazes, some local law enforcement agencies report people keep calling 911 to deliver confusing accounts of the wildfires already being fought.

"Several people were calling authorities to report the wildfires that were already being fo