Horse Fire spreads to 2,795 acres

RIVERTON (WNE) — As of Tuesday morning, the Horse Fire near Prospect Peak had grown to 2,795 acres. 

Reported on June 13, the fire was started by a lightning strike and started burning in heavy timber and dead fallen branches and other woody debris. 

According to InciWeb, an interagency fire information management system, the fire within the Big Piney Ranger District is now approximately seven miles outside of the Merna area. Merna is a sparsely populated area about 20 miles west of Daniel. 

According to the National Weather Service’s Riverton office’s Facebook page, as of June 28 most of Sublette County was abnormally dry, and nearly half the state was in moderate drought conditions. 

Most of Fremont County and north central Wyoming (about 35% of the state) is not dry enough to register on the drought conditions map, but the southern and western parts of the state range from abnormally dry to severe drought. 

On June 25, Grand Teton National Park made a post in which it noted that there had been six fires in the Teton interagency zone alone so far this year; the following day, June 26, another fire was reported near Porcupine Creek. 

With 149 personnel on the fire as of Tuesday morning, the Horse Fire’s perimeter was 59% contained. 

The firefighting team, currently led by Incident Commander Eric Neiswanger, planned to continue to limit its extent as well as patrolling and monitoring unburned “islands.” 

This story was published on July 2, 2025.