Operations are winding down when it comes to battling the Mullen Fire in Medicine Bow National Forest.
As of Monday morning, the fire was at 69% contained, with just a few more than 800 people are working to combat it.
John Wallace, Operations Chief for the Southern Blue Team, said the weather has allowed firefighters to expand their containment lines.
“Our containment has dramatically increased over the past couple days,” he said. “We had a nice precipitation event yesterday and we expect more today.”
Wallace said with the precipitation, the containment area should continue to grow.
According to fire tracking website InciWeb, fire crews plan to patrol and monitor the area where the fire is still burning and mop-up small fires as it is safe to do so.
They also plan to work with law enforcement agencies and various utility groups to lift evacuation orders and allow people to return to their homes.
“Work continues out there getting ready for people to re-enter the Foxborough and Fox Park areas.,” he said. “A lot of infrastructure is out there and we wanted to get it out of your way.”
Major focuses continue to be suppression repair efforts, which will involve crews working on private lands to fix areas damaged by firefighting efforts and the fire itself, ranging from removing debris and repairing cut fences to repairing bulldozer lines.
“Firefighters are still watching a few smokes in the interior of the fire. They don’t pose risk to the containment,” Wallace said.
Of the 176,000 acres affected by the fire, more than 156,000 acres were in Wyoming.
