A reported lightning strike started the fire on the west end of Ocean Lake north of Long Point yesterday afternoon around 4:15 pm. Fremont County Fire Protection (FCFP) crews from Morton-Kinnear, Pavillion, and Riverton were dispatched to the area off of Shady Lane and Summerhill Road.
The fire was burning in the cattails of a marshy area, shared FCFP Deputy Chief Dan Oakley. There wasn’t a safe way to access the fire so they had to burn around the perimeter of the fire and let it consume the cattails and fuel in the area. Crews were on the scene for about four hours last night.
About 11 seconds before this fire was reported, FCFP crews from Lander and Hudson were dispatched to Rawlins Junction near Highway 287 and Highway 28 for a reported fire. Oakley shared this ended up being a controlled burn that wasn’t called in to dispatch.