GUERNSEY – The Pleasant Valley Fire was 100-percent contained as of Wednesday, Aug. 7, and encompassed an estimated 28,984 acres, according to official reports. The fire started Tuesday, July 30, on Pleasant Valley Road approximately one mile north of Guernsey and resisted the containment efforts of local, regional, and federal firefighters for several days.
“I’ve never seen a fire act like that – and I never want to again,” said Chris Orr, a seasoned firefighter in a post-fire meeting of Guernsey Rural Fire Department.
The meeting took place on a drizzly Thursday, just one day after 100 percent containment of the fire, with guests in attendance including volunteers who spearheaded impromptu support for supplies and meals.
“I appreciate what you guys did for us,” Chris said, adding about the conditions on the ground that created such a monster of a fire: “It’s just too dry. Even this rain will not do much.”
There was also appreciation expressed for the fire departments in surrounding counties. Specifically, fire departments in Platte, Goshen, Niobrara, and Albany County fire departments. There were even some crews from Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, and also from Colorado who assisted in fire suppression efforts.
When asked if there was anything else they had needed that wasn’t provided, GRFD fire chief David Warner said, “I was hoping an air conditioning unit would have been brought out to me!”

He added seriously, “Things worked out good. It was very coordinated.”
Warner expressed appreciation for the volunteers who helped get supplies and food to them at the front lines. His crews liked the food provided locally and said the burritos and sandwiches the volunteers created for the meals was perfect and easy to eat for his crews. There wasn’t anything he thought needed to be changed on that front.
Platte County Emergency Management Coordinator, Anthony Krotz, expressed appreciation to the community for its response, and, addressing the volunteer firefighters, he added, “We all need to appreciate the fact you guys are here.”
Many of the main organizers of the volunteers who helped with supplies and food preparations were at the meeting, and plans were made to create a stronger communication line for future emergency fire events, and appointed Kathy Orr as a liaison from the department.
Krotz said there were issues initially with residents of Hartville not receiving Platte Alert emergency notifications initially, but that issue was worked out. In addition to Platte Alert, Krotz said he will be working on details to create an additional centralized place for information to be posted in emergency situations like Pleasant Valley Fire and will get the word out to the public when everything is in place.
“As far as everything that went wrong, a lot went right. It’s not something a community practices - maybe we should, but I think we did really well,” said Krotz.
To assist with that, it was agreed to meet to pre-plan organized communications and response efforts for next year’s fire season at the March meeting of the GRFD.
There were many donated supplies left over. Plans were made to distribute them among the fire departments in the county, following the reasoning the donations were made by Platte County residents for fire response, (and every fire department in the county responded to the Pleasant Valley Fire) so the surplus should be shared among the fire departments in the county.
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For more information on Platte County’s established emergency notification system, visit https://www.plattecountywyoming.com/PlatteAlert. If you don’t have a cell phone with text capability and you don’t have an email address, or no access to a computer, call PlatteAlert at 307-322-1335 and someone can help get you signed up.