Mullen Fire grows to over 150,000 acres

In just a week, the Mullen Fire has grown by over 50,000 acres and continues to burn in both Wyoming and Colorado. The fire, which had reached 151,711 acres in size on October 5, forced road closures and mandatory evacuations last week.

On the night of September 29, the fire saw massive growth as it swelled from 82,649 acres to 96,757 acres between Tuesday and Wednesday. At the time, it had accounted for the second largest period of growth since the fire began. Both the Savage Run Wilderness and the Platte River Wilderness appeared to have been entirely consumed by the fire.

Since last week, the following communities have been under a mandatory evacuation:

• Rambler

• Albany

• Fox Park

• Wold

• Woods Landing

• Graham and adjacent areas

• Lower Keystone

• Moore’s Gulch

Additionally, Yankee Road towards Woods Landing and some properties along Fox Cabin Trail were also under mandatory evacuation. Centennial remains under pre-evacuation notice aso does Meadow Plains Road south of Yankee Road and areas near Sheep Mountain to Lake Hattie Reservoir and north of Wyoming Highway 230.

As of last week, a total of 38 property owners had been notified of lost property by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. That property loss included 29 dwellings and 31 outbuildings.

On September 30, Wyoming Highway 230 from Riverside to Colorado State Line was closed at approximately 3:24 p.m. and would remain closed until October 4 at approximately 9 p.m. due to fire activity near the highway. It was at approximately that same time that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado issued a mandatory evacuation for residents north of three-way and along Colorado highways 125 and 127. 

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office also had mandatory evacuations for the areas of Roach and Hohnholz in the northwest part of Larimer County along county road 103.

As the fire grew, so did the crews working on it. As of Tuesday morning, there were approximately 1,130 personnel on the fire. Crews conducted burnout operations in areas deemed safe to do so, which included the Wyoming and Colorado border on the west side of Wyoming Highway 230 and Colorado Highway 127 near Mountain Home and WyoColo.

By Monday, the Rocky Mountain Area Incident Management Blue Team, which assumed operations on September 22, had reported 14 percent containment on the fire. This included the growth seen on the Carbon County side out of the Medicine Bow National Forest land and towards Highway 230. It also included movement towards Sheep Mountain and down into Colorado along three-way. A section of the Wyoming Highway 230 near the Colorado State Line remains active, however.

At over 150,000 acres in size, Governor Mark Gordon stated during a press conference on Monday afternoon that the Mullen Fire had become one of the largest in the history of Wyoming. The largest fire, of course, is the nearly 800,000 acre fire in Yellowstone National Park in 1988. During his Monday press conference, Gordon said that it was clear that fire made it clear that “our forests need managed.” The governor recognized that previous work performed by loggers was aiding in the containment of the fire along with burnout operations.

In the past two weeks, the Rocky Mountain Area Incident Management Blue Team has stated during Facebook livestreams that it would take a “season ending” event to help extinguish the Mullen Fire. A season ending event has been described as significant snowfall that would remain on the ground. Despite the cooler temperatures and slight moisture seen recently, it is not enough to help stop the growing blaze.

An estimated containment date of October 30, at approximately noon, is still listed on the Inciweb page for the Mullen Fire.