State Briefs

Off-duty firefighter gets teen out of burning house

GILLETTE (WNE) – A local teen boy has a lot to be thankful for, especially an off-duty Campbell County firefighter who alerted him and got the teen out of a burning house Wednesday.

No one was hurt in the afternoon fire at 1803 Plumcreek Ave., according to the Campbell County Fire Department. The teen and three other members of his family were displaced by the fire.

The firefighter, who wasn’t identified in a Fire Department press release about the incident, responded and found the teen was the only one home at the time.

Neighbor Alan Blocker said the family is upset but doing OK.

“It’s a pretty sad deal,” he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it had likely been burning in the attic “for some time” prior to a neighbor noticing the flames. The home and its contents are a complete loss, the Fire Department reports.

Firefighters received the call at 12:43 p.m. and had the fire under control by 3:30. They remained at the scene through Wednesday night and will periodically be there Thursday to monitor for any potential flare-ups.

The Red Cross of Wyoming is helping the family with a hotel room, food and clothing as well as health services support to replace medicine.

A Gofundme page has been set up by a family member with the proceeds going to the family. As of Thursday morning, about $1200 has been raised.

Military truck carrying ammunition catches fire on I-80

LYMAN (WNE) – The Uinta County Fire Department responded to a truck fire Monday afternoon on Interstate 80 milepost 14, outside of Evanston, which resulted in I-80 westbound being closed by the Wyoming Highway Patrol. 

The truck was a military truck carrying ammunition.

Although the cab of the truck was basically destroyed, the cargo containers which held the ammunition were not breached and the firefighters put out the blaze without any injuries. 

After the fire was extinguished the military convoy — minus one truck — was able to continue its journey. 

“We were headed to Evanston and passed it before any emergency vehicles were there,” said Susan Lallatin on Facebook. “Guys were running with fire extinguishers! Great job putting it out.” 

Also, last week a Humvee — and in a military convoy — caught fire during rush hour on a Friday afternoon in Utah. There were no injuries reported in that accident either.

Man asks why he hasn’t been arrested — gets arrested

GILLETTE (WNE) — A Gillette man got what he asked for Thursday night when he was arrested by Campbell County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

The man, 62, called the Sheriff’s Office at about 9:30 p.m. to ask why deputies hadn’t arrested him yet, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds. He said deputies had raided his house Wednesday, and he had been waiting all day Thursday for them to return and arrest him.

When asked what he should be arrested for, he said he should be arrested for meth use.

Reynolds said that deputies in fact had not raided the man’s house and were not planning on arresting him for any crime. While speaking with a dispatcher, the man also said 10 young guys were following him.

The man left from his house in a white GMC truck and drove south on Highway 14-16. A deputy passed him about 1 mile south of the Buckskin coal mine, Reynolds said.

When the deputy passed him, the man turned off into a power unit substation, which led the deputy to turn around and initiate a traffic stop.

The man told the deputy he’d used meth a day and a half before and was still high. He performed poorly on sobriety tests and was arrested for driving under the influence of a controlled substance.

Out-of-town fanny pack with $3000 lost and found Tuesday

GILLETTE (WNE) — A father and daughter from Washington state who passed through Gillette on their way to Iowa had a scare Tuesday when the dad misplaced his fanny pack with about $3000 in cash inside.

They stopped for gas at the Shell gas station on Second Street when he went to the bathroom and lost the fanny pack somewhere along the way. By the time he and his daughter, 22, got to Rapid City, South Dakota, they noticed it was gone, Police Lt. Brent Wasson said.

Using an app of some kind on his phone, the man was able to track the waist bag to a waste can outside of Walgreens in Gillette, but it was found without the cash.

Walgreens video surveillance showed Jason Baham, 40, leaving the store with the fanny pack.

Officers contacted Baham at his home, where he admitted to taking some of the cash from inside the bag and allowed a search of his home. 

Inside, $3090 in cash was found, along with 2 grams of meth, 0.5 grams of cocaine and 14.5 grams of marijuana.

Baham was arrested on suspicion of felony theft and three drug possession charges, all felonies because his charges for each drug was his third or more, Wasson said.

The money was most likely photographed for evidence and returned to the family, Wasson said.