Wildfire In Southern Wyoming Nears 7,000 Acres
MEDICINE BOW NATIONAL FOREST, Wyo. (CBS4) -- More than ten aircraft are en route to a two-day-old wildfire located about 15 miles north of the Colorado state line as of mid-afternoon Saturday.
The Mullen Fire measured 3,855 acres at mid-day Saturday, but by late afternoon was said to be more than 7,000 acres with more growth expected.
Perimeter map for #MullenFire_WY , #MedicineBow NF. Over 7,000 acres. Still growing pic.twitter.com/lj0r9rcnCL
— Medicine Bow-Routt NFs & Thunder Basin NG (@FS_MBRTB) September 19, 2020
Aerial view from this afternoon of #MullenFire_WY approaching Rob Roy Reservoir. This is a major fire folks. Larger area closure coming for #MedicineBow NF. Stay tuned pic.twitter.com/QMUzKLKJSt
— Medicine Bow-Routt NFs & Thunder Basin NG (@FS_MBRTB) September 19, 2020
It is burning in the Savage Run Wilderness section of the Medicine Bow National Forest.
There is intense fire activity on the northeast side corner of the blaze, per a federal incident reporting system. There are few natural breaks to the east of the fire and it is consuming beetle-killed deadfall and blow down trees in extremely rugged terrain.
The community of Keystone in unincorporated Albany County is under pre-evacuation notice.
The U.S. Forest Service is leading the firefight at this time.
Ten more aircraft are heading to the Mullen fire in Wyoming that is approx. 4,000 acres. In addition to the VLAT, a Bravo unit, 3 LATs, 2 T-1 helicopters and 4 SEATs are either at the fire or on the way. #IfYouFlyWeCant #OneLessSpark
— RMACC (@RMACCinfo) September 19, 2020
The Rocky Mountain Area Fire Coordination Center, a regional facility, indicates the resources include a VLAT, which stands for Very Large Air Tanker. Firefighting planes of this category are usually converted DC-10s.
There is no known cause of the Mullen Fire at this time.