District 4 wildfire plan sets the first 12 hours of mutual aid

For ranches on the valley edge, the useful part of the 2026 District 4 Wildfire Annual Operating Plan is not ceremony. It is who gets called, who pays, and how fast help moves. At the May 19 meeting, commissioners considered approving the plan covering Wyoming State Forestry District 4, including Teton, Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater and Uinta counties, according to the county agenda. The staff packet says Teton Interagency Dispatch Center remains the dispatch contact for interagency fires in Teton County, except fires starting on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, which use Eastern Idaho Interagency Dispatch.

The plan keeps all jurisdictional lands in District 4, except Wyoming State Parks, in the reciprocal mutual aid fire protection zone. Each agency bears its own costs for up to 12 hours after the initial report, but not past midnight that same day; after that, cost-share talks kick in, normally using percentage of acres burned by jurisdiction. It also spells out when heavy equipment like a dozer, road patrol, or grader can be used, how fire restrictions are coordinated once fire danger reaches high, and how Teton County's SAR helicopter can be ordered for wildland fire work while still being released for higher priority life-safety missions in the county.