Wednesday Night Mullen Update: Fire Reaches 103K Acres

The Mullen Fire in Medicine Bow National Forest has officially affected more than 100,000 acres, officials announced Wednesday evening.

EF
Ellen Fike

October 01, 20202 min read

Gordon fire photo
https://www.facebook.com/MullenFire/videos/344621446848451/

The Mullen Fire in Medicine Bow National Forest has officially spread to more than 100,000 acres, officials announced Wednesday evening.

During a Facebook livestream news conference, officials provided updates about the fire activity on Wednesday, the resources needed and new evacuation orders.

As of Wednesday evening, the fire has affected 103,542 acres, according to Deon Stein, lead planning operations manager of the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Blue Team.

As the fire spread south toward the Colorado border, the Roach and Hohnholz areas in northwest Larimer County, Colorado, were evacuated due to imminent danger. Wyoming Highway 230 to Riverside was closed until further notice, according to fire tracking website InciWeb.

The fire was active on Wednesday, meaning that resources had to be diverted to keep it at bay, Stein told viewers during the update.

U.S. Forest Service Meteorologist Brad Anderson said the air quality in Cheyenne would likely decline on Thursday, due to smoke from both the Mullen and Colorado’s Cameron Peak fires.

Team incident commander Michael Hayden said during the livestream that although nearly 1,000 people (887 as of Wednesday evening) are working to combat the fire, he wanted more.

“We want more resources to go out there and protect structures, bridges, values and the forest overall,” Hayden said.

He added that it is likely the Rocky Mountain team will be replaced in the coming days by the National Incident Management Team, a Type I fire management team, usually assigned to the most complex type of wildfire.

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