The Beulah Fire, located about 30 miles south of Evanston, Wyoming in the Uinta Mountains, has burned over 5,700 acres and is 96% completed.
Fire officials have measured progress as completion rather than the more commonly-known containment. That’s because the fire was burning in steep, dangerous terrain which made it difficult to establish a perimeter around the blaze.
As of Sept. 12, Brenda Bushnell with the U.S. Forest Service said there are around 40 personnel on scene, down significantly from 700 when the blaze reached its peak.
Bushnell said cooler temperatures and recent rainfall helped slow the wildfire.
“Our fire danger has dropped to moderate,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Sept. 12. “We were able to lift the fire restrictions so people can go and have their camp fires, but we’re still watching the areas. In the last couple of years, we have had fires that started later in the season than what we normally expect… because we really could still have fires for the next month to month and a half.”
Bushnell said the North Slope road is now accessible. The Christmas Meadows area and the East Fork of Black’s Fork River are also now open to the public.
“The East Fork of the Bear [River] and the West Fork of the Blacks Fork [River], and the area in between, is still closed,” she said. “That’s the actual footprint of where the fire burned. That area will still be closed for a while. We do still have firefighters in the area that are monitoring that.”
Bushnell said anyone starting campfires should ensure they put it out completely by drowning it with water.
She said crews will be working to rehabilitate some areas with dirt, brush and trees to prevent any erosion that may result due to burn scars.
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