{"id":15945,"date":"2026-07-27T18:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15945"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:50:13","slug":"wyoming-wildfire-forces-15-minute-evacuation-at-youth-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15945","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming Wildfire Forces 15-Minute Evacuation at Youth Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>As the Fish Creek Fire closed in on Camp Batel Ranch, camp hosts and counselors evacuated the facility within ten minutes, leaving behind belongings. Swift decision-making likely saved the teenagers&#8217; lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<p class=\"fp-leadCaption py-tight text-left font-utility text-utility3-size leading-utility3-line-height text-secondary\"> (Photo: Louis M Fico)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published July 27, 2026 12:48PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>On the afternoon of July 21, lightning struck the Laramie mountain range west of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visitlaramie.org\/plan-your-visit\/cities-and-towns\/tie-siding\/\">Tie Siding<\/a>, a small community in Wyoming. Within minutes, what had begun as a routine check-in day for teenagers at Batel Ranch<strong>,<\/strong> a summer camp affiliated with the Mormon Church,\u00a0launched into a full-blown emergency. Flames whipped within a mile of the camp, spreading through the nearby Medicine Bow National Forest\u2014leaving campers with minutes to escape.<\/p>\n<p>In all, 20 campers and five adult staff successfully escaped the fires. But the call shows how quickly a single lightning strike can become a life-threatening blaze, and how acting swiftly can save lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really scary because it just happened so fast. You know what you need to do and you just do it. You don\u2019t even think about it,\u201d volunteer camp host Louise Fico told <em>Outside<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For Louis and his wife Debra Fico, it was a routine afternoon during their first summer volunteering at Batel Ranch, a youth camp operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The couple was among the first to spot the fire after hearing the lightning strike and seeing smoke rising from a nearby ravine.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"fp-remove\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3Dpfbid0sFrzTtnF5qws9YyqtuUVwoK7UCV1HNaPUUK5ho5PRrpmawZtoKdX5wXUfYmvnNArl%26id%3D100064556897842&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"753\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were probably watching [the smoke] with a couple of the leaders no more than five minutes,\u201d Louis said. \u201cAnd then we saw some huge flames come up and we all looked at each other and we just said \u2018we need to evacuate.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sitting in southeastern Wyoming, Camp Batel Ranch hosts LDS summer programs centered on outdoor recreation, faith, and leadership.<\/p>\n<p>On the morning the fire broke out, early attendees had just arrived and were preparing for up to 60 additional campers expected to join the following day. After learning of the wildfire, campers quickly pivoted, focusing instead on evacuating the facility. The camp has two exits, but only one of the exit\u00a0routes led toward the same ravine where the fire had started, leaving the main entrance as the only safe option.<\/p>\n<p>Camp workers led the attendees out of the main entrace. Louis and Debra estimated that everyone was safely evacuated within ten minutes, loading into vehicles and leaving everything behind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could see the hillside burning,\u201d Louis told <em>Outside<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As the line of vehicles made its way down the rough dirt road toward Tie Siding, the fire continued to grow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the fork in the road, you could just see the flames starting to get pretty high,\u201d Louis said. \u201cThey started to look like they were going above the power lines in an area of very dense woods.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The campers weren\u2019t the only ones fleeing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the way out, we saw a mother moose that likes to visit a lot with her calf, and she was walking down the street, protecting her calf down the road,\u201d Louis said. \u201cThe animals definitely freaked out. Once they start smelling smoke, they know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crews from the Tie Siding Volunteer Fire Department battled through the night to keep the blaze from spreading farther into nearby ranches and recreation areas.<\/p>\n<p>Louis and Debra told\u00a0<em>Outside<\/em> the fire ultimately came within roughly a quarter- to a half-mile of the camp. Looking back, Louis said the group decision to leave immediately prevented a far more dangerous situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really was a matter of which way the wind was going to blow,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t have to panic. If we waited, we might have had to panic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Albany County Sheriff\u2019s Office announced the wildfire was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/1Hr3uuLHyW\/\">fully contained<\/a> and extinguished by July 26, after burning roughly 16 acres.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"fp-remove\" style=\"border:none;overflow-y:hidden;background-color:white;min-width:320px;max-width:420px;width:100%;height:420px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gaiagps.com\/public\/WXCt8Kihce6E80s99Fs5eKds\/?embed=True\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><span hidden=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/exploration-survival\/fish-creek-fire-batel-ranch-evacuation\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Fish Creek Fire closed in on Camp Batel Ranch, camp hosts and counselors evacuated the facility within ten minutes, leaving behind belongings. Swift decision-making likely saved the teenagers&#8217; lives. (Photo: Louis M Fico) Published July 27, 2026 12:48PM On the afternoon of July 21, lightning struck the Laramie mountain range west of Tie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}