Wyoming
Elk Fire Now At 74,000 Acres And Still Out Of Control, But Some Signs…
People in the potential path of an out-of-control wildfire that’s scorching its way across northwest Sheridan County may not be able to get to church services Sunday, but are doing plenty of praying.
It’s the same prayers they’ve been offering up for a week since the Elk Fire that began with a lightning strike southeast of Dayton blew up overnight last Sunday — and has continued to blow up since. After starting Saturday at more than 62,000 acres, the fire was last estimated Saturday afternoon at 76,000 acres and adjusted to 72,998 Sunday morning.
For those who’ve evacuated or been told to be ready to leave their homes, there’s a feeling of helplessness and fear at having to watch the flames and smoke advance without being able to do anything.
Chad Flanagan, a lifelong Dayton resident, told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday that it’s simply “heartbreaking” to see the face of the Bighorn Mountains that used to stand over the town like a protector instead glow orange with wildfire.
Others haven’t been so lucky.
The Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office reports it’s confirmed at least two primary residences in the Horseshoe subdivision have burned, while the list of areas that have been evacuated has grown almost as fast as the fire.
There are some inspiring stories of hope emerging from the area as well.
A stunning photograph shared by the Wyoming Department of Transportation from a worker at Burgess Junction on the southwest side of the fire shows the successful efforts of firefighters to save a home. It stands unscathed as an island surrounded by a sea of black.
In the wake of the fire’s spread, some people have returned expecting to find their homes destroyed only to find miracles instead.
Laura Eaton, who lives on a ranch in Wolf south of Dayton, posted about her family’s miracle to Facebook.
“The fire moved an incredible distance last night and blew through the mountains and foothills around the ranch in about three or four hours,” she wrote.
Blown by “insanely high” winds that gusted more than 60 mph, she said the fire was about 2 miles north of the ranch at about 10 p.m. Friday, then by 7 a.m. was “already about 4-5 miles south of us, (and) the ranch is about 6 miles long … along the mountains.”
She expected the worst when returning Saturday.
“Driving into the ranch, it looks really bad,” she wrote. “The majority of the lower elevations seem unaffected, but the face of the mountains, South and North Red Canyons and the hill along Gentry Field by the race track have been hit hard.
“Driving up the ranch road and seeing all black around the hollow where the main part of the ranch is located, I was preparing for the worst. I was pretty sure it had all been wiped out.”
The Miracle
Instead, like that WYDOT worker, she found her home had been spared.
“Amazingly, all of the buildings have been spared,” she wrote, adding how grateful the family is to the firefighters working to protect people and property. “Of course, we have so many individuals who have put in the hours on the ground to be thankful for.”
But there’s another reason for the miracle of the Elk Fire not burning the ranch to the ground, Eaton wrote.
“Even with all the effort put into prevention and actively fighting the fire, with the conditions last night, I feel like the only reason we were spared is because of all the positive energy that has been sent our way,” she posted. “So thank you, all of you, for your love and prayers.”
Also devastated at how the fire is impacting where he calls home is country music star Ian Munsick, who grew up in the area.
“That’s my childhood right there,” Munsick told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday. “And when I write music, those are the mountains that inspired me the most.”
Munsick has been heartsick seeing the homes and towns he loves threatened by fire. That prompted him to start a GoFundMe campaign, The Elk Fire Relief Fund, to help all the rural fire departments involved in fighting the fire.
He even kicked it off with a little donation of his own — $15,000 from himself and $15,000 from his wife, Caroline.
“We have to do our part in helping them, because we physically couldn’t be there helping,” Munsick said. “It’s been pretty crazy to see the small community just rally behind this. And we have raised quite a bit of money in the last 12 hours, which is pretty cool to see.”
The fund has already exceeded the initial goal of $50,000 and had topped $76,000 by Sunday morning. Munsick was pleased, but not surprised to see the fund grow so quickly.
That’s just the Wyoming that he knows and loves, where there’s always a cowboy ready to lend a hand.
Still Growing
Now at nearly 73,000 acres, the fire remains “extremely active,” the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team in charge of battling the Elk Fire reports Sunday morning.
The weather also isn’t helping, with a cold front bringing dry winds and low humidity, which is blowing the fire in multiple directions. And there isn’t much relief on the way from the weather.
“Sunday is the beginning of a warming and drying trend as high pressure builds over the region,” the update says, although it’s expected to be less windy.
There are nearly 600 people working to build breaks and lines around the fire, as well as clear out or burn any fuels within where safe to do so.
No new evacuations were ordered overnight Saturday, and none were lifted. Those area ordered to leave are:
• The area within Eaton’s Ranch Road to the intersection of Beckton Road, then south to Big Goose Road and west to Rapid Creek.
• Little Horn Canyon
• Eaton’s Ranch.
• Tongue River Canyon.
• Pass Creek and Twin Creek roads west of Parkman.
• All homes from X-X Ranch north to the Montana state line.
• Tongue River Canyon west of Dayton where the road turns to dirt.
• The Horseshoe subdivision.
• Homes west of Beckton Road from Dayton south to the intersection of Beckton and Eaton • Ranch roads.
• Eagle Ridge subdivision and homes directly east of U.S. Highway 14 up the mountain.
Along with Dayton now on “set” status, so are:
• South of Twin Creek Road from Parkman north of Amsden Road; also west of Highway 343, including along Smith Creek and Columbus Creek roads.
• Homes east of Tongue Canyon and Amsden roads.
The best and most current information about the Elk Fire is being posted to the U.S. Forest Service-Bighorn National Forest and Sheridan County Government Facebook pages.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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