‘Really Scary’: Devils Tower Reopens As Two Wildfires Burn Nearby 10%
By Greg Johnson8%
8/3/2026, 9:49:00 AM
Keywords: Devils Tower, Wildfire, Fire, Wyoming, National Park Service, Firefighters, Left Creek Fire, Newton Fire, Ogden Driskill
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Anecdotal, and Appeal to Emotion, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 14.2% saturation with 149 hits. Analysis detected 788 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,053 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.3% and a BS Rank of 10% (24,816 of 27,306 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 90.90% of the article peer group.
UPDATE 2 p.m.: This story has been updated to reflect the Left Creek Fire has been upgraded to 100% contained.
After getting bookended by a pair of wildfires that prompted the closure of Devils Tower over the weekend, the national monument reopened again to the public Monday — albeit on a limited basis.
While Devils Tower is open, the hiking trails around the tower and throughout the monument remain closed as crews continue to battle a pair of nearby fires, one just southwest of the monument’s boundary and another southeast.
“We were able to open it up this morning, but as of today, the hiking trails in the backcountry are closed,” said Dustin Sene, Powder River Group superintendent for the National Park Service.
“We’re hoping to get those back up as soon as possible,” he added.
“I’m glad we were able to get it open today.”
While the trails remain off limits because of the fires burning nearby, Sene said that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do at Devils Tower other than stand there and look at it.
“You can still come in, drive the roads, and the visitors center and bookstore are open,” he said.
Asked if climbing the tower is still off-limits, he answered, “Oh yes, that’s affirm.”
Another Fire
Wyoming State Forestry, NPS and firefighting officials had contemplated discussing reopening Devils Tower on Sunday afternoon after the 282-acre Left Creek Fire on the southwest border of the monument was started Friday.
That didn’t happen, however, with the discovery Sunday afternoon of the now-300-acre Newton Fire just southeast of Devils Tower and just east of Wyoming Highway 24.
With progress on the Left Creek Fire, fire managers were able to divert resources to the Newton Fire quickly, which has kept it relatively in check for the past 12 hour or so, Sene said.
“Boy, they did get there quick, and so did the air resources,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“It’s nice we had these resources here at the park already.
“If there was a time to have a second fire, this was it.
I’m just really impressed with the local fire folks here.”
‘Really Scary’
The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the Left Creek Fire hasn’t grown since Saturday, and by Monday afternoon is 100% contained.
That doesn't mean the fire's not still burning, but that crews are confident thier fire lines will hold.
The Newton Fire isn’t reporting any containment; however, it also hasn’t shown much growth overnight and a previous order putting area residents at “set” status to evacuate has been lifted.
Highway 24 also had been closed for a time Sunday south of Devils Tower, but has since reopened.
While both fires seem to be going well for the wildland firefighting crews working them, it was “really scary” when the Left Creek Fire was discovered, said state Sen.
Ogden Driskill.
The fire, believed to have been started by lightning, is on the fence line of his property — and it’s land the ranch depends on.
“It was really scary, because that’s some of the grass we depend on in the fall and winter,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Sunday morning while meeting with state and National Park Service officials.
“In my opinion, it without a doubt could’ve been a 5,000-acre-plus fire — or more,” Driskill said, adding that quick and precise work from the more than 100 firefighters on the scene have kept the wildfire in check.
“We literally watched helicopters put out crown fires all day long,” he said.
“They kept it in the original line all day long (Saturday), and the ground crews kept it from spreading on the ground.”
That work has kept the fire at an estimated 282 acres, said Dick Terry, district forester for Wyoming State Forestry.
While he wouldn’t say the fire is contained, he said he’s confident it’s basically under control.
“We’ve got fire line around most of it, but it’s indirect,” he said.
“It’s still small and not contained just because we’ve got the east side with a shaky line until we get a little bit of a handle on that.”
The fire has so far also stayed outside the boundary of the national monument, Terry said.
“I would assume it’s lightning,” he added about the suspected cause of the fire.
“But, I haven’t seen the start of it yet.
But it’s 99% sure it’s lightning.”
Newton Fire, And Another One
The Newton Fire was discovered at about 1:15 p.m.
Sunday, and had grown to an estimated 200 acres in a couple of hours, the National Interagency Fire Center and Crook County Emergency Management report.
Asked later Sunday for an update on the wildfire situation around Devils Tower — which has closed the monument for much of Saturday and all of Sunday — county Emergency Management Coordinator Ed Robinson was blunt.
“It sucks,” he said.
“We get one fire almost contained, and then we’re fighting another one now, too,” he told Cowboy State Daily from the scene of the Newton Fire on Sunday.
The Left Creek and Newton fires aren’t the only serious wildfire being fought in northern Wyoming.
Two counties to the east, a Wyoming Type 3 incident management team was called in to help fight a fire in the Clearmont area of Sheridan County, which has ballooned to more than 7,200 acres since it was started by lightning on Friday, according to the Type 3 team.
“A lightning storm moved across the region starting multiple fires north of Clearmont, Wyoming, in Sheridan County,” according to a report from the Type 3 team and its commander, Jon Warder.
“Weather and fuel conditions led to the fire quickly growing in size,” the report says.
“While structures were threatened, none have been lost so far.”
The NIFC reports the Lumin Fire is about 50% contained, and that terrain and fuels are making the wildfire difficult to fight.
While he was at the Devils Tower site Sunday, Terry said he also had been checking in on the Lumin Fire.
Crews there have made considerable progress on getting more control and protecting buildings in the area, he said.
“It kind of sounded like they got some burnouts completed and, hopefully, they’ll be winding down on that,” he said.
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65%flagged-word coverageOgden Driskill
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