DAYTON, WYOMING — The 51,115-acre Elk Fire west of Sheridan, Wyoming, continues to burn with 0% containment. The fire is located about six miles north of Dayton, Wyoming, which is about 15 miles west of Sheridan. Officials were concerned it could grow significantly overnight Friday night with the passage of a cold front and winds forecast to gust to more than 50 miles per hour.
More than 500 firefighters are working the lightning-caused blaze — which was first reported on Friday, September 27. They took advantage Thursday’s calmer weather to conduct burn-out operations and create more of a fire break.
Kristie Thompson is the Elk Fire information officer for the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team. She says there is no timeline for containment or control. “There are patches of unburned timber well within the fire area,” she said. “We will continue to see smoke from this fire until we have snow.”
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She also urged people stay safe. “If you’ve been evacuated, please do leave. And if a road is closed, please steer clear. We have fire traffic that needs to be in that area.”
Lisa Eichhorn is a spokesperson for Sheridan County. She said it’s disconcerting for area residents to see smoke and ash in the air. But, she says, “Don’t get overly, concerned because you see ash in the air. Ash is ash, not necessarily embers. And when or if it’s going to affect you directly, we will let you know as soon as we can.”
“There’s a lot of information out there, but it’s only a few of us that are putting out the official information,” says Eichhorn. And we try very hard to get that out as quickly as we have information, but obviously this is a fire, and it changes. So our Facebook site — Sheridan County Facebook site. Our Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office has a great active account, as well as the U.S. Forestry Service Bighorn.”
On behalf of the Incident Management Team, Thompson thanked the local community for it’s support. “[They] have been amazingly gracious with everything they’re going through. They have shown us support and kindness from the very start, and we can’t thank them enough.”
And she praised the local firefighters for their work. “The local volunteer fire department, they’ve been here from Day One,” says Thompson. Dayton, Ranchester, Sheridan — they’ve been the ones that have been fighting this fire. And we’re very thankful for all the work that they have done.”
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.
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Wyoming judge blocks state pro-life laws
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a county judge blocked two pro-life laws in Wyoming. The judge blocked the Life Is a Human Right Act, which protected unborn children except in cases when the mother’s life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest, as well as a law prohibiting chemical abortions via abortion pills, a law signed by Gordon in March 2023.
Gordon said on Tuesday that the ruling was “frustrating” and that he instructed his attorney general to prepare to appeal the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens ruled on Monday that the two laws violated the state constitution by restricting medical decisions. Owen has blocked Wyoming abortion laws three times since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now that the ruling has been struck down, abortion is legal up until fetal viability in Wyoming.
The plaintiffs included Wyoming abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, two obstetricians, two other women, and the Wyoming abortion advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund. Following the ruling, Chelsea’s Fund stated on Tuesday that it “will do everything in our power to uphold this ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court.”
Montana judge blocks licensing law for abortion clinic
A Montana District Court temporarily paused the state’s recent health department licensing regulations for abortion clinics amid pending litigation. House Bill 937 required licensure and regulation of abortion clinics and included rules for sanitation standards, emergency equipment, and hotlines for women who are coerced into an abortion or are victims of sex trafficking.
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Two abortion providers, All Families Healthcare in Kalispell and Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, and an abortionist sued over the regulations, saying they would have to close if they were implemented. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Chris Abbot ruled in their favor, saying that H.B. 937 was a shift in “the status quo” that abortion providers “are not generally considered health care facilities subject to a licensure requirement.” Montana voters approved Initiative 128 on Election Day, enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution and allowing abortion after fetal viability.
Virginia bishops condemn fast-tracked right to abortion proposal
Two Virginia bishops recently opposed a proposed amendment granting a right to abortion, which was fast-tracked by the state House Privileges and Elections Committee. Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond in a Nov. 13 statement called the proposed right to abortion “a fundamental tragedy.” Virginia law currently allows abortion up to 26 weeks and six days and allows abortion after that in certain cases. Burbidge and Knestout encouraged Virginia to “work instead for policies that affirm the life and dignity of every mother and every child.”
The bishops also opposed a fast-tracked proposal to remove the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman from the state constitution. The bishops noted that they “affirm the dignity of every person” and “affirm too that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman.” Following the election, the bishops encouraged “deep engagement in decisions” that are at “the heart of who we are.”
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a fellow of the College Fix. She has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register, and CatholicVote, and she graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel had high praise for No. 12 Boise State during his weekly press conference.
“This is probably the best Mountain West team that I’ve seen in the five years I’ve been in this conference,” Sawvel said of the Broncos (9-1, 6-0), who travel Wyoming (2-8, 2-4) this Saturday.
“It’s a big challenge when you’re playing a team that’s on track to play in the playoff. They’re very well-rounded. They’ve got experience on defense, and they’re productive and opportunistic on that side of the ball. And then obviously Ashton Jeanty, who is kind of ridiculous. … We’re obviously going to have to play our best game we’ve played all year defensively to hang in with them.”
The Cowboys are coming off a 24-10 road loss to Colorado State.
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Here are the highlights from Sawvel’s press conference.
On Boise State’s offense
“There’s a large model of what they do that is what we want to become. When you look at the blueprint in a sense, nobody is going to have Ashton Jeanty, I get that … but there’s a lot of things foundationally to what they do that is like ‘OK, this is what we want to look like.’”
On Boise State’s balance
“(Ashton Jeanty), great player there. But to be honest with you — he’s amazing and he deserves the credit that he gets, Heisman consideration and those types of things — but the quarterback, Maddux Madsen, really makes them go. Because … you can load the box on everybody run-game wise, but his accuracy and what (offensive coordinator) Dirk Koetter does with him offensively creates a balance for them that makes them that much harder to defend.”
On maintaining eye discipline, spying Madsen
“You’ve got to do your job and you’ve got to have your eyes in the right spot. That’s something that’s foundational to anything defensively. But if you start looking around too much in the run, (Madsen) is a very good quarterback. They’ve got good skill that opens things up. Just his movement, his ability to move. He’s a hard guy to sack. He’s got 19 touchdowns and three interceptions, so there’s an accuracy there that’s important, too.”
On ‘getting up’ to play Ashton Jeanty
“Well, let’s be careful a little bit about that. There’s a guy from San Diego State that chirped a lot about Ashton Jeanty, and that didn’t work out very good. So look, anytime there are good players on the field, I think players want to play good when there are other good players on the field.”
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