Tallies are in on 2024 fire season

Clark gives commissioners last report as fire warden

Lisa Phelps
Posted 12/31/24

WHEATLAND –In his outgoing report to the county commissioners, Platte County fire warden Aaron Clark said, “I want to remind everybody the fire ban is still in …

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Tallies are in on 2024 fire season

Clark gives commissioners last report as fire warden

Posted

WHEATLAND –In his outgoing report to the county commissioners, Platte County fire warden Aaron Clark said, “I want to remind everybody the fire ban is still in place…[unfortunately] it looks like I’m going to go out with the fire ban still in place. The long-term forecast is really pretty sour – it’s not looking good. There’s not been moisture of any measure really coming in and we’ve had above average temperatures. If we had a fire start today, it would go – there’s no doubt about it.”
Clark said in the 2024 fire season, an estimate of 11,000 acres were burned in Platte County, costing between $4 million to $5 million for air resources alone. “We’ve evacuated Hartville twice, and Dwyer once...we made three mutual aid calls in to Goshen County, and four mutual aid calls in to Albany County. Goshen County was here on and off all summer, but we’ve paid them back quite a few times,” Clark said. “We also lost two structures this year.”
There were some injuries: three firefighters had to have eye treatments, a wrenched knee needed medical attention, and one serious bicep separation required surgery.
Overall, the districts earned $100,000 from paid fire reimbursement from the Emergency Fire Suppression Account (EFSA) to help pay for wear and tear on the districts’ equipment, and firefighters earned $110,000 for payment from qualifying fires while offering mutual aid. “The firefighters put forth a significant amount of effort, but at least they got paid for some of their efforts.”
Palmer Canyon fire chief Will deRyk told commissioners he wanted to acknowledge Clark’s skill and decisiveness as part of the reason there was only 11,000 acres burned this past year. “Platte County has done an amazing job because of Aaron (Clark). We had an excessive amount of fires this year… [but] we went to the firefighter meeting in Casper, and listening to the other counties, they were burning 100,000 acres or more, so that’s a credit.”

“Every one of those fires could easily have been more. But [Clark’s] actions, his knowledge kept it all down,” Platte County Emergency Management coordinator Tony Krotz agreed.
Shockley added, he is appreciative of Clark’s success over the years in encouraging the fire departments to all work together.
“Like Will (deRyk) said, we could have burned half a million acres in Platte County if my firefighters hadn’t been there quick and thrown everything they had at it, and not be afraid of spending state money if we don’t have to pay it back – it would have burned the county down…” Clark said. “It’s not me. It’s the folks that volunteer. They’ve given a lot of time and effort – and they’re good.”
Clark’s term as fire warden officially ends on Jan. 6, with Krotz taking over the lead position. In a model used by other counties in Wyoming, Krotz will add the fire warden hat to his job description, taking care of the administrative side of things while the commissioners choose one or two assistant fire chiefs to assist with on-the-ground leadership during active fires.
“I think this new structure we’ve come up with Tony (Krotz) doing most of the administrative side of the fires, and the deputies actually doing the tactical. I think that is going to work…because you need someone more than just a volunteer being a fire warden,” Clark said. “It’s become too complicated, too expensive, and takes up too much time. A full-time staff person is much of a benefit.”
Clark told commissioners Platte County Firefighters will be closed out in “pretty good shape. There will be $100,000 turned over to the county account and it will go through your process now. That’s where that deputy warden salary position has got to get paid through…That ought to run it for quite a while.”
He also said fuel for vehicles could be paid for from those funds; “[It] is running $10,000 a year to run the overhead side of the fires in Platte County.”
At the conclusion of his report, commissioners each shared their thanks for Clark’s service over the past few years as fire chief.
“Thank you for your time and effort over the years, you’ve done really great,” commissioner Kayla Mantle said.