Mullen Fire

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The onset of consistent winter conditions and the lack of fire activity in the Mullen Fire burn area has enabled the Medicine Bow National Forest to lift the area closure that has been in effect since mid-September.

The public may access and use the burn area in the southern Snowy Range, Albany and Carbon Counties, Wyo., and Jackson County, Colo., however the Mullen Fire may still be smoldering.

Most of the burn area has cooled, but heat may still exist in thick timber stands and deadfall. Smoke has not been visible for several weeks.

There is one exception to the area closure recension. Due to fire damage and hazards in the vicinity of the Rail Trail, approximately seven miles of the non-motorized trail, from Fox Park to Lake Owen, will remain closed to public use until mitigation work can be completed.

The parking area and toilet on the northwest corner of Lake Owen, near the fishing pier, will also be closed.  

Forest staff will continue to monitor the fire as it remains in patrol status and has not been declared fully controlled (out).

“The benefit of public access to the Mullen Fire burn area now outweighs the risks that exist,” said Laramie District Ranger Frank Romero. “That said, we absolutely do not want to minimize that burned areas can be hazardous and that people should not assume that everything is back to the way it was before.

“More than ever, visitors to the area need to be aware of the situations they are in. There is a lot of rebuilding, repair, regrowth, and work that will need to take place in coming years. The public needs to keep that in mind as they explore and recreate.”

Caution is urged in burned areas, as trees may have been weakened by the fire and could easily fall. The burn area will have many ‘snags,’ or standing dead trees that are fire weakened and highly unstable, especially in high winds.

The Mullen Fire was reported on September 17 and burned 176,878 acres.

Any additional fire information and updates will be provided by the USDA Forest Service on Twitter and on InciWeb. The Facebook page specific to the Mullen Fire will no longer be updated.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The Mullen Fire in Medicine Bow National Forest is at 95% contained, but people in the northern Albany County area will still likely see some smoke columns and fire over the weekend.

That’s according to Type IV Incident Management Team spokesman Travis Cott, who spoke with Cowboy State Daily Friday afternoon.

Cott said crews are working in the northernmost portion of the fire to contain the last of the flames.

“The cold weather and snow have helped, but sometimes cold weather isn’t always the blessing people think it is,” he said. “Cold weather can sometimes dry out those fuels in the fire area, meaning that it actually will grow in size.”

Thankfully, this isn’t expected for the diminishing Mullen Fire.

Cott said that while 100% containment is coming in the next few days, this doesn’t mean the fire is completely out. It just means that it will continue burning inside the footprint created by the containment line.

Fewer than 50 people are working to combat the fire, according to fire tracking website InciWeb.

The Type IV Incident team will actually change over on Friday, letting the U.S. Forest Service take over management of the fire.

Cott added that the cause of the wildfire is still under investigation and couldn’t say when the USFS might release information regarding it.

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It’s astonishing with all the cold weather in the area but these wildfires are tough — really tough — to put out.

Even after the region plunged into sub-zero temperatures and received a foot of snow, the Mullen Fire is still smoldering.

And it will continue to smolder.

The latest update from the Mullen firefighting team said the latest round of snow the area received over the last few days won’t melt until spring.

That’s great news. But the fire — despite all of this — is still alive.

“You might be wondering if the Mullen Fire is out,” the team wrote on Facebook. “The short answer is that this blast of winter weather has been enough to cool down the fire, but not put it out.”

The good news is the firefighters expect little or no growth in the size of the fire.

“But some isolated areas inside the fire perimeter with smoldering heavy fuels are likely to produce smoke and occasional flare-ups,” they said.

That’s because clearing skies and a warming and drying trend is in the forecast for another week.

As a result, fire personnel will continue to patrol the fire and work on suppression repair over the next week or longer, they said.

When might it finally be extinguished?

“Southeast Wyoming and Northwestern Colorado have been in a prolonged severe to extreme drought this summer and fall,” they said. “Consequently, larger fuels have been extremely dry for months. It will take sustained heavy snowfall this winter to completely extinguish all hot spots.”

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

While the Mullen Fire is at 81% containment, the work to subdue the fire isn’t completely done, so crews will spend the weekend monitoring hot spots and repairing damage from fire suppression efforts over the last month.

Andrew Gray, public information officer for the fire, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that he doesn’t see the fire growing again in size, but that suppression wouldn’t be completed until there was a “season-ending snow event.”

However, snow fell in the area Thursday night and is expected to continue falling through the weekend in southeastern Wyoming, helping move the fire closer to being extinguished, he said.

“The fire is certainly winding down,” Gray said. “We do want to remind people that there will still be smoke and small fires seen in the area as we continue to work on suppression, containment and cleanup efforts.”

Some of the cleanup efforts will include running downed limbs and trees through a woodchipper and repairing fences and ruts in yards or roads.

The 1,400 or so Wyoming and Colorado residents who had to leave their homes or property due to the Mullen Fire have been allowed to return, although they are being urged to be ready should evacuation be necessary again. There is still a National Forest closure notice in effect, though.

According to fire tracking website InciWeb, around 385 people are now working to combat the fire.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

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.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Fire crews are using a slowdown in activity on the Mullen Fire to establish a fire line west of Centennial to prepare for the worst-case scenario, an official said Friday morning.

During a Friday morning update, public information officer Chris Joyner told Facebook viewers that while there isn’t much heat in the northwest portion of the fire, crews in the northeastern section are taking precautionary steps.

“We’re not seeing a lot of activity in the French Creek drainage area,” he said. “There is still a lot of heat [in the northern part of the fire area], but fortunately it’s extremely wet in here, so our models don’t show the fire spreading.”

However, fire crews are placing a contingency line west of Centennial as a preventative measure, even though officials don’t expect the fire to move there.

Crews will also work on spotting and cleaning up any fire hot spots on Friday and over the weekend.

There are around 980 personnel working to combat the fire, which has affected 176,386 acres as of Friday morning, according to fire tracking website InciWeb. Firefighters have completed a containment line around 34% of the fire.

While Saturday is expected to have sunny skies and fairly strong winds, Sunday is expected to be cool with a chance of rain.

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

Facing winds of up to 75 mph, firefighters battling the Mullen Fire in the Medicine Bow National Forest were going to focus on monitoring the fire Wednesday and attacking any trouble spots that may come up, according to a firefighting official.

Jon Wallace, operations section chief for the Type I team battling the 176,371-acre fire, said during a morning briefing that winds were making it difficult Wednesday to do much but monitor the flames and continue efforts to protect buildings.

“We’re just going to be really monitoring the fire today, engaging where we need to if the fire decides it wants to move out of the mountains and into the grasslands,” he said. “The firefighters are going to be really cautious today. There’s a lot of blowing debris out there, a lot of ash blowing around and so the conditions are just really nasty for us today.”

Firefighters have expanded the containment line around the fire from 30% to 34%, according to the wildfire information website InciWeb. 

Most of the containment line is on the fire’s western edge, stretching down around its southern tip in Colorado and then north back into Wyoming past Mountain Home.

On the fire’s northern edge, firefighters will begin some cleanup operations, using large chippers to clean up large piles of brush and timber around Ryan Park that were left by a fuel reduction project.

Once the winds die down, firefighters will also work on a stronger fire line near Centennial, Wallace said.

“It’s a long-term fire line that is going to help product Centennial in future fires, if not this one,” he said.

A Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation Team, made up of various forest specialists, is set to visit the area soon to direct rehabilitation efforts, he added.

“They look at the fire’s footprint and decide where we need to put erosion blankets down, where we need reseeding,” he said.

High winds were forecast to continue for two days, but begin slowing by Friday and Saturday, when temperatures were also expected to drop into the low 40s.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Firefighters battling The Mullen Fire in Medicine Bow National Forest have been able to expand their containment line around the blaze, officials announced early Tuesday morning.

The fire has now affected 176,047 acres and is 30% contained. The estimated containment date is still Oct. 30.

In a Tuesday morning update streamed on Facebook, operations manager John Wallace said that the fire was relatively quiet for most of Monday morning, but managed to gain some traction in the afternoon due to strong winds.

“Last night, our swing shift had to go out and actively engage with the fire and put it out as it moved out of the drainage ditches and towards some grassy areas,” Wallace said.

Strong winds are also a concern Tuesday. However, officials are focused on working with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office to reopen Fox Creek Road for residents to return home in the next day or so.

The fire has continued to advance toward Centennial, but Wallace said firefighters will focus on keeping it at bay near Middle Creek.

Fire crews will also work on removing dead trees and vegetation in the forest, to both slow the Mullen Fire and keep fires from developing in the near future.

More than 1,200 people are working to contain the fire.

While winds in the area were predicted to slow to 10 to 15 mph on Tuesday morning, forecasts called for the winds to strengthen through the night Tuesday, with gusts of up to 75 mph predicted by Wednesday. The winds, along with low humidity, were expected to leave available fuels for the fire dry and contribute to increased fire activity, according to the wildfire information website InciWeb.

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