Even as the incident management teams report they’re closer to achieving containment on a pair of wildfires that have burned nearly 190,000 acres in northern Wyoming, another blast of snow is expected to dump on the Elk and Pack Trail fires.
With forecasts calling for snow to begin at higher elevations Monday night and continue through Wednesday, that’s only “going to help our firefighters on the ground,” said Nick Ostrom, operations section chief for Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1, which is in charge of fighting the fire.
That comes as the nearly 450 firefighters and support personnel are making accelerated progress on containing the Elk Fire.
As of Monday, the 98,352-acre fire is 82% contained, up from the 73% reported Saturday and 28% before a strong winter system dropped rain and snow on the Elk Fire on Oct. 17-18.
The crews had a “great day on the fire yesterday,” Ostrom said Monday. “It’s been several days of not detecting any head on our fire lines. We also did make more containment on the center of the fire.”
In fact, an updated map of the fire shows only two areas where containment hasn’t been achieved: along the northwest border and southeast in the Soldier Creek area.
It was at Solider Creek were there was some fire activity Sunday, Ostrom said.
“We took action with our helicopters right away and got that knocked down,” he said, adding that now “it’s looking real secure.”
With containment comes more efforts to repair areas damaged by firefighting activity, Ostrom said.
Pack Trail
Meanwhile, on the Pack Trail fire west of Dubois in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, similar progress was reported Monday.
That fire is at 89,930 acres burned and is 78% confined.
And like their counterparts in the Bighorn Mountains, the Pack Trail crews are cleaning up and moving equipment.
Contact Greg Johnson at greg@cowboystatedaily.com
Elk Fire as of Oct. 28, 2024. (Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1) 
Pack Trail Fire as of Oct. 28, 2024. (Great Basin Team 5) 
A flare-up in the Soldier Creek area on the southwest border of the Elk Fire was put down with helicopter drops. (Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1)
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
