Four wildfires burning in southeast Montana and northern Wyoming have burned a total of 918,282 acres, but firefighters say they are gaining as weather cools.

A community meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 at the Birney Post Office at 302 Commercial St. to discuss firefighter efforts for the Flat Rock, Remington, Constitution and House Draw fires, according to a Monday release from the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.

Birney was one of the most threatened populated areas of the fires, and ranchers in the area have lost livestock, fencing and grazing land.

Combined, 840 firefighters are fighting the fires, including 24 crews, three helicopters, 78 engines, nine bulldozers and seven water tenders.

Destructive wildfire in southeastern Montana forces evacuations and claims land

Here are some highlights of each fire, according to the incident management team:

Remington (196,387 acres, 0 percent containment) Fire behavior was significantly reduced Sunday, and firefighters will monitor activity on the north end Monday, conduct mopup in the northeast and secure lines in the southwest. The fire is about 20 miles northeast of Leiter, Wyo., but is also burning in several southeast Montana counties.

House Draw (174,702 acres, 88 percent containment) Firefighters extinguished a burning power line outside the perimeter of the fire Sunday. On Monday, they are patrolling and mopping up heat sources securing lines where needed. The fire is about 40 miles southeast of Buffalo, Wyo.

Flat Rock (52,599 acres, 35 percent containment) The Flat Rock fire is 11 miles northwest of Gillette, and firefighters are monitoring the north end Monday, using direct attacks and helicopters.

Constitution (24,594 acres, 28 percent containment) Heavy equipment crews are using bulldozers to keep building containment lines. Fire activity on the northern end continues to produce smoke.

The Casper Wyoming Temple is the latest new house of the Lord that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has opened for media, special-guest and public tours.

That opening began Monday, Aug. 26, with the temple’s media day, as Church leaders held a 10 a.m. news conference welcoming local media representatives before leading them on tours of the temple and then being available for interviews.

Representing the Church at the Casper temple media day were Elder Randall K. Bennett, a General Authority Seventy and president of the North America Central Area; Elder James R. Rasband, a General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Temple Department; and President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president. They were joined by local leaders.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate Casper Wyoming Temple in a single 10 a.m. session on Sunday, Nov. 24, with the session to be broadcast to all units within the Casper temple district.

The single dedication session and Nov. 24 dedication date are updates from previous announcements of a Oct. 13 dedication and two sessions at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The rescheduled date now has the house of the Lord in Casper becoming the Church’s 201st dedicated and operating temple.

Coinciding with Monday’s media day, the Church released interior and exterior photographs of the temple. The images and the dedication updates were first published on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Following Monday’s media day, invited guests will tour the temple Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 27-28, prior to the temple’s open house that runs from Thursday, Aug. 29, through Saturday, Sept. 14.

Serving 15,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 50 congregations within its district, the Casper Wyoming Temple will be the state’s second dedicated and operating house of the Lord, following the Star Valley Wyoming Temple, which was dedicated in 2016. The Cody Wyoming Temple, which was announced in 2021 is in planning and design.

Monday’s media day and start of the open-to-the-public period of the Casper temple is the fourth in 15 days, with similar events having happened for the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple on Aug. 12 and the Mendoza Argentina and Salvador Brazil temples last week on Aug. 19. A fifth temple — the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple — will have its media day in two weeks, on Sept. 9.

Casper temple background

Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a house of the Lord for Casper, Wyoming, during the April 2021 general conference, one of the 20 new temple locations he identified.

The temple site was released in June 2021, with plans calling for a single-story edifice of approximately 10,000 square feet. The temple grounds are a 9.5-acre parcel at the intersection of Wyoming Boulevard and Eagle Drive in Casper.

An exterior rendering of the temple was released on Sept. 9, 2021, along the announcement of the groundbreaking date.

Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, a General Authority Seventy who was then president of the Church’s North America Central Area, presided at the Oct. 9, 2021, groundbreaking.

Casper temple design and features

The Casper temple features a steel-framed modular structure, built similar to the modular construction first used by the Church with its Helena Montana Temple, which was dedicated in June 2023. The exterior is a cladding of glass-fiber reinforced concrete.

Landscaping of the 9.5-acre temple grounds includes large boulders and stones and grasses — all reflecting the region’s rocky prairie — along with native plants, multi-trunk trees and evergreens.

The design motifs through the interior are based on the stylized versions of the Indian paintbrush — Wyoming’s state flower — and the sagebrush, both native to Casper and the surrounding area.

Floor coverings include green carpet tile in the instruction room, cream wool area rugs in the celestial and sealing rooms and red, green and tan decorative rugs in the entry and waiting area. Porcelain in the Timeless Marfil color is used in the interior, with granite in the color of Coast Green in the baptistry.

Art-glass windows and interior decorative painting feature local flora — including the Indian paintbrush — and geometric Native American patterns. The doors are stained sapele and painted poplar, with millwork employing the same woods.

The Church in the Casper area

In the latter half of the 1800s, those migrating to the western United States usually traveled through Wyoming. That includes the tens of thousands of Latter-day Saint pioneers between 1847 and 1859 alone what crossed the Oregon Trail through what is now Casper in the central part of the present-day state of Wyoming en route to Fort Bridger before dropping off the trail and heading southwest toward the Salt Lake Valley. Early Church members operated ferries in the Casper area to help pioneers cross the North Platte River.

Martin’s Cove — the location where early and severe winter storms trapped the Willie and Martin handcart companies of pioneers in 1856 — is about 60 miles southwest of Casper.

The Church’s first branch was organized as part of the Western States mission in December 1920, with Latter-day Saints meeting in homes and rented buildings until the first chapel was built in 1939.

Two stakes in the region were created on Oct. 14, 1962, by Elder Spencer W. Kimball and Elder Howard W. Hunter — two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who later became presidents of the Church. The Wind River Stake included congregations in Lander and Riverton and the Casper Stake included those in the namesake city; the stakes are now known as the Riverton Wyoming and Casper Wyoming stakes.

Beginning in the late 1800s, the closest operating houses of the Lord for Latter-day Saints in the Casper area initially were the Logan Utah and Salt Lake temples, with members traveling in later decades to the Idaho Falls Idaho and Ogden Utah temples. Currently, the two stakes based in Casper and the one in Riverton are assigned to the Fort Collins Colorado Temple district, which is a three-hour drive from Casper, some 225 miles away.

Casper Wyoming Temple

Location: 3011 Independence Court, Casper, Wyoming 82604

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church

Groundbreaking: Oct. 9, 2021, presided over by Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the North America Central Area

To be dedicated: Nov. 24, 2024, by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Property size: 9.52 acres

Building size: 9,950 square feet

Building height: 97 feet, 6 inches, including the spire

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now)—Today, we examine the DNC and speak to a member of the Wyoming Democratic delegation and House Representative Mike Yin as Democrats gathered in Chicago this week.

Yin says that he’s heard a lot of “Equality State” ideals echoed at the DNC.

“You know, I think that there are Wyoming values that are really echoed. Freedom has been a top-line measure. We talk about the restrictions to personal freedoms that the abortion bans across many red states have accomplished in reducing the amount of actual health care accessible and reducing the number of doctors that actually serve the state,” said Yin.

Wyoming delegates cast their 17 votes for the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and VP Tim Walz at the DNC this week.

Yin says the group is there to represent the interests of the state.

Wyoming delegates participated in the rural council meetings and discussed their concerns about ensuring our communities survive and thrive.

We asked Yin about the critics who say that the people did not democratically vote for Harris.

Yin says that if the shoe were on the other foot, neither party would have chosen a special election for all 50 states in the limited time left before the election.

He says the event has energized attendees as we look toward November’s election season.

“I think people really have hope and energy that the Democratic party can actually bring people’s freedoms back that the republican party has taken away,” said Yin.

Make sure to read part 2.

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