Awatchfire

Albany County, Wyoming

Moonshine Fire

Burning 15.0 miles south-west of Westview Circle and 18.4 miles west of Whiting, since Monday 7 September.

Map of Wyoming. The Moonshine Fire burns 63 miles from Cheyenne, and 63 miles from the state capital, Cheyenne.
The fire sits 63 miles from Cheyenne.

7,325

acres burned so far — about 11 square miles

37

days burning so far

100%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 10:09am today

The Moonshine Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. Nothing has given off fresh heat for 764 hours.

No fresh look at this fire for 764 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the Moonshine Fire. Amber flames mark every place that gave off heat in the last day; the shading is the shape of the ground.
Heat in the last day Higher ground pale, valleys dark

764hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 1:45pm on Sunday, local time.

88% less

energy in the last 6 hours of the record than in the 6 before them — the fire was cooler when it was last seen.

11.9miles

is how close the heat has come to Westview Circle at any point in the record. In the last day the nearest heat has been None miles from it, and the closest this fire has come to Whiting is 15.4 miles, None in the last day.

3.1miles

is the furthest any heat has been seen from the point on the official record — the width of the ground involved so far.

Smoke has been recorded lying over this ground three times so far. The thickest of it was thin between 6:20am and 9:00am local time. The last of those windows closed 121 hours ago, so what is overhead now is not known.

Where the heat is

No cluster large enough to call a separate front. The heat is in one piece.

Conditions measured 10.2 miles from the fire: 37°F, air at 89% humidity, a 17 mph wind out of the north.

How it got here

Six days of record on a day-39 fire

The record here begins at 2:58am on 8 Sep and runs to 1:45pm on 13 Sep — 131 hours, 666 readings of heat. The fire is on day 39, so the first 33 days are missing: nothing showed up from above until the fire was large enough and the sky over it clear enough for it to be seen.

Animated map of the Moonshine Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 46 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 6 days of record

  1. Map for Tue 8 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue8 Sep

    First readings

    • 139 heat readings
    • Heat from 2:58am to 4:44pm
    • Spread 2.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  2. Map for Wed 9 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed9 Sep

    Cooling off

    • 108 heat readings
    • Energy 95% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:54am to 9:15pm
    • Spread 2.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  3. Map for Thu 10 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu10 Sep

    Flaring up

    • 213 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 14.4 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:20am to 8:17pm
    • Spread 3.1 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and evening
  4. Map for Fri 11 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri11 Sep

    Cooling off

    • 65 heat readings
    • Energy 80% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:01am to 4:59pm
    • Spread 3.1 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning and afternoon
  5. Map for Sat 12 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sat12 Sep

    Holding

    • 71 heat readings
    • Energy 48% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:39am to 9:34pm
    • Spread 3.1 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, afternoon and night
  6. Map for Sun 13 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sun13 Seplatest

    Cooling off

    • 70 heat readings
    • Energy 81% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:58am to 1:45pm
    • Spread 3.1 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon

How the record has moved

Each step is a change on the interagency incident record — acreage, containment or crews — with the date it was reported. No satellite reading is involved.

  1. Monday 7 September

    First reported

  2. Monday 7 September

    0 acres on record

    0 ac

  3. Monday 7 September

    Grew to 40 acres

    40 ac

  4. Tuesday 8 September

    Grew to 120 acres

    120 ac

  5. Tuesday 8 September

    Grew to 200 acres

    200 ac

  6. Tuesday 8 September

    Grew to 500 acres — containment 0%, 122 personnel

    500 ac · 0% held · 122 crew

  7. Wednesday 9 September

    Grew to 2,000 acres — 128 personnel

    2,000 ac · 0% held · 128 crew

  8. Thursday 10 September

    Grew to 3,928 acres — 254 personnel

    3,928 ac · 0% held · 254 crew

  9. Friday 11 September

    Grew to 5,656 acres — containment 26%, 292 personnel

    5,656 ac · 26% held · 292 crew

  10. Saturday 12 September

    Grew to 6,790 acres — containment 35%, 352 personnel

    6,790 ac · 35% held · 352 crew

  11. Sunday 13 September

    Grew to 7,170 acres — containment 46%, 333 personnel

    7,170 ac · 46% held · 333 crew

  12. Monday 14 September

    Containment 47% — 298 personnel

    7,170 ac · 47% held · 298 crew

  13. Tuesday 15 September

    Grew to 7,304 acres — containment 51%, 222 personnel

    7,304 ac · 51% held · 222 crew

  14. Wednesday 16 September

    Grew to 7,316 acres — 172 personnel

    7,316 ac · 51% held · 172 crew

  15. Thursday 17 September

    Grew to 7,320 acres — 170 personnel

    7,320 ac · 51% held · 170 crew

  16. Friday 18 September

    Grew to 7,325 acres — containment 61%, 132 personnel

    7,325 ac · 61% held · 132 crew

  17. Tuesday 22 September

    Containment 65% — 44 personnel

    7,325 ac · 65% held · 44 crew

  18. Thursday 24 September

    Containment 74% — 6 personnel

    7,325 ac · 74% held · 6 crew

  19. Saturday 26 September

    Containment 80% — 4 personnel

    7,325 ac · 80% held · 4 crew

  20. Monday 28 September

    Containment 90%

    7,325 ac · 90% held · 4 crew

  21. Tuesday 6 October

    Containment 100%

    7,325 ac · 100% held · 4 crew

100% of the perimeter is being reported as held. 4 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 7,325 now. Nothing has looked at it for 764 hours, and the record still lists it as active.