Mullen Fire approaches 80,000 acres feeding on beetle-kill and strong winds

As 525 firefighting personnel battle the blaze, the Mullen Fire has grown to 77,950 acres large. Currently, the fire is only 2% contained. The fire is burning within timber -litter and understory- significant beetle-killed lodgepole pine with heavy dead and downed fuels.

Crews continue to perform structure triage, structure prep, and point protection at Rambler subdivision, Keystone, Centennial, Foxborough, Fox Park, Wycolo, Mountain Home, Wold, Beehive, Woods Landing and Bugling Elk. 

Protection of the Rob Roby reservoir remains a high priority as it is the main water source for the city of Cheyenne, WY. Other high priority values include Wyoming Infrared Observatory.

According to the Incident Information System, cooler, cloudy weather and less erratic fire behavior allowed firefighters to return to the southeast end of the fire yesterday to resume structure defense actions and to assess properties in impacted areas including Lower Keystone, Lake Creek, and Foxborough. 

Next, they will forward their assessments to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office who will directly contact homeowners if notifications are necessary. The Sheriff’s Office will announce when that process is concluded.

Today, crews will continue structure protection work in communities south of the fire. Firefighters will also work the area where the fire crossed Highway 230 south of Woods Landing. They will use the highway as an anchor point to tie fireline into the area burned by the Badger Creek Fire in 2017. Other areas of focus will be the 543 Road south of Rob Roy Reservoir and securing possible advance to the Sheep Mountain area.

Fire crews have multiple planes and helicopters on site to assist with suppression efforts, though strong winds and low cloud ceilings have limited their use the last two days. Those aerial resources may be utilized today under more favorable weather conditions.