At 2 a.m. on August 6th, rangers were notified that a local trout shop and motel in the town of Fort Smith were on fire. Rangers arriving on scene found that the motel, a large propane tank and two vehicles were fully engulfed in flames and that the fire was spreading to the adjacent trout shop. Early reports from the owners of the motel indicated that three motel guests were unaccounted for and presumed to be in their room. Due to the limited resources available and the fact that the structure was fully engulfed in flames and starting to collapse, firefighters were unable to enter the building. Rangers assisted with scene security while the Fort Smith Volunteer Fire Department, Bighorn County Fire Department, sheriff’s deputies and Bureau of Indian Affairs officers arrived. Firefighters battled the fire throughout the night, attempting to stop the blaze from spreading from the motel and trout shop to the convenience store next door, but all three businesses were lost. Other fire departments, including the Crow Agency Fire Department and Crow Forestry Wildland Fire Department, were called in to assist. On the following morning, rangers assisted the Bighorn County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and ATF in their efforts to find the cause of the fire and to locate the three people who were presumed to have died in the fire. Although their remains were found, the cause of the fire is still unknown.
