Wildfire — East Platte County, Wyoming

2024-07-30 to 2024-07-31 · East Platte County, Wyoming

Event narrative

Multiple wildfires initially along the Platte-Goshen County border northeast of Guernsey merged into the Pleasant Valley Wildfire burning 28,984 acres. Resulted in the evacuation of Hartville, WY and a multi-day closure of US Highway 26. One outbuilding was destroyed along with miles of fencing and power poles. This wildfire continued into August before being contained on August 7th.

Wider weather episode

Two wildfires within close proximity of each other ignited on July 30th along the Platte-Goshen County border in southeast Wyoming. One of the fires was determined to be started by a lightning strike. Extreme wildfire conditions resulted in both of these fires merging into one fire burning 28,984 acres. This fire caused evacuations of Hartville, WY, road closures along US Highway 26 near Guernsey, WY. This fire continued into August before containment was reached on August 7th (see similar August StormData entry).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1203126. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.