SUNDANCE, Wyo. – A Type 1, Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team has taken over operations of the Fish Fire, burning in northeast Wyoming.
The fire, as of this morning, stands at 6,476 acres and is 10-percent contained.
Fire officials say yesterday, cooler, cloudy weather aided firefighters in their suppression efforts. Effective use of aerial resources combined with dozers and hand crews allowed construction of direct fireline on portions of the western and northern flanks of the fire. Fire engines focused on structure protection on private lands where the fire is checked in some locations by hay fields.
The fire remains most active on the eastern and southern sides. As the fire climbs in elevation, it enters more rugged terrain, but the fuel type also changes to one where fire burns less aggressively.
Residences South of Canyon Springs Road to the south end of the fire and east of Wyoming Highway 585 remain under evacuation. This includes about 20 homes in all.
After being closed yesterday, Highway 585 between Sundance and Four Corners has been reopened.
The fire is human caused, and under investigation.
On large, complex fires, supervisors divide the fire perimeter into geographic areas called branches which are further divided into divisions to provide for better management and safer operations. These daily updates will describe the fire’s activities and our suppression actions within these subdivisions, which are shown on the accompanying fire maps. Note that branch numbers and division letters don’t always run sequentially in order to allow for expansion if the fire grows.
Branch I:Division K encompasses the west side of the fire along Highway 585. Good progress was made yesterday constructing containment lines and tying the fire’s edge into hay meadows, roads, and other natural control features. Today firefighters will patrol and mop up in this division and will continue to improve containment lines by extinguishing hotspots that could pose a threat to firelines.
On the north end of the fire near Fish Mountain, in Division M, firefighters will continue to go direct along the fire’s edge and will work to smooth out jagged edges where the fire did not burn cleanly which will strengthen containment lines. Aerial resources will be used as needed to support operations on the ground.
Branch III: Division T encompasses the eastern fire perimeter near Elkhorn Divide and south along Kunath Branch 3A to just north of the Black and Yellow Road. Firefighters will continue to construct containment lines along the fire’s edge and existing roads where possible. Some small firing operations may occur in this area to secure containment lines.
In Division A, on the south end of the fire, a lot of great work was done by local resources and the Type 3 IMT yesterday. Fireline has been completed in this area, including on the portion of the fire that slopped over the Black and Yellow Road. Today crews will continue to patrol and mop up in this area and extinguish any areas of heat that flare up and threaten containment lines.
The Structure Group will continue working around structures within fire perimeter to ensure they remain secure and will continue structure assessments outside the current fire perimeter to develop a protection plan in the event that fire activity increases.
