It was another day of above-average temperatures and high winds in the Medicine Bow National Forest and that, along with critically-low humidity, made fighting the Mullen Fire on Monday a challenge.
Firefighters estimate that the blaze is now affecting more than 157,000-acres and remains at 14% contained.
Unfortunately, the weather this week will continue to be uncooperative with similar conditions forecast through Friday.
What made it even more difficult on Monday was the presence of strong westerly winds and the abundance of material to feed the fire.
“Due to the fuel loads in the area, it’s been very challenging,” Incident Commander Michael Hayden said Monday evening.
That’s something that Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon touched on as well during his weekly press conference.
“It is clear our forests need to be managed and it is clear we are making progress where there has been logging that has happened or there has been some burnout activity before,” he said.
Firefighting officials report that the blaze is very active in the northern perimeter between the communities of Albany and Keystone along Road 542.
Structure Protection groups were spread throughout the fire area including the town of Centennial, Wyoming.
“We were able to obtain a couple road graders from Albany County and they started putting some greater lines out in the grass and sage flats as a precautionary measure in the event the fire makes a makes a push towards Centennial,” Operations spokesman Deon Steinle said.
