40 Percent Containment on Horse Creek Blaze
Incident: Horse Creek Wildland Fire
Released: 6/30/2007
Big Piney, Wyo: Crews supported by helicopters and air tankers made great progress on the Horse Creek Fire on Friday. Burn out operations using hand ignition and helitorch operations reinforced existing fire lines on the southwest and northwest flanks.
The Horse Creek Fire, located 27 miles west of Pinedale, is now estimated at 7,660 acres.
Fire managers plan to continue burn out and mop up operations on Saturday. Demobilization of resources is scheduled to start on Sunday.
"Although challenged with extreme weather and dry fuel conditions, burn out and mop up operations were successful today and the fire remained within the containment boundaries. We are projecting containment on July 2," said Incident Commander Merrill Saleen.
"It was a great effort today by crews in very difficult weather conditions," said Phil Perkins, Fire Behavior Analysis.
State of Wyoming employees, County Sheriff Department and Sublette County firefighters have provided excellent cooperation and assistance with suppression efforts.
Fire Danger Rating on the Bridger-Teton is now very high. Visitors to the forest are advised to be extremely careful with fire.
The Horse Creek Road is limited to all but authorized fire personnel. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. For more information, visit http://www.inciweb.org/.
A Horse Creek Fire public meeting will be held at the Pinedale Library at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 1.
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