A fire propelled by high winds destroyed nine buildings yesterday, damaging a 10th in a west Laramie mobile home community.
The fire began in a building in Wade’s Mobile Manor Park, spreading down a full row of adjacent structures and into a grass field beyond it. Winds were estimated to be blowing at 30 to 40 miles per hour, with gusts.
“There were two different incidents that were going on at the same time,” ‘C’ Shift Commander Kevin Lam said. “There were the structure fires going on that had structure engines working on them and there was a significant grassfire downwind.”
An additional four to five acres of the field caught before the blaze was brought under control by a wide range of responding agencies including law enforcement, career and volunteer firefighters from the city, county and nearby Forest Service, energy companies, and the Laramie Parks and Recreation department.
“They’re very well trained, this could have been way worse if they didn’t have the expertise that they have,” Albany County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Chestnut said.
The fire created unusually dire circumstances for Laramie that called for additional waterpower from the United States Forest Service.
“Very rarely do we have a Forest Service engine come into town to help us out, but today we needed them,” Lam said. “This was a very big event for our community.”
The cause and full extent of the fire is still unknown while responders complete the final steps of clearing the area. Such details will remain under wraps until further notice.
“We’re still investigating the fire at this point,” Lam said. “Right now what’s going on is called ‘overhaul,’ where they use equipment to expose areas of the fire that are buried to make sure that we don’t have any hotspots.”
Despite the extensive property damage, the area is set to be under control and safe again soon and no injuries or casualties have been confirmed. Lam said residents are being permitted to enter the area again—showing that the situation is improving.
“I don’t have any information that anyone was injured in the evacuation or the fire itself,” Lam said. “The people that are not immediately impacted are being allowed back into their residences. The folks that were in the affected area, they’re working with Red Cross right now to work out what support they need.”
The American Red Cross of Wyoming has met with five families affected by the fire to support them in its immediate aftermath and connect them to additional resources and solutions and will continue checking in with them in the coming days and weeks.
“Red Cross works with families who have been affected by incidents like this to help them get back on their feet in their initial stages of their recovery,” Preparedness Program Specialist Lauren Kenney said. “We do have some very strong local volunteers here in Laramie that will hopefully be meeting with those families we didn’t get to meet with today or the next few days and providing them with some assistance.”
The Albany County Fairgrounds is serving as the evacuation point for families displaced by the fire and numerous residents of the Laramie area have already offered assistance, supplies and their own homes.
