GILLETTE, Wyo. — The Short Draw Fire spanning northern Campbell County into Montana is reaching complete containment, the Campbell County Fire Department announced in a Facebook post Wednesday.
Currently at 74% containment, crews are aiming to have the fire completely contained by Friday. Fire lines are currently securing most of the perimeter of the burn, and mop-up work is being conducted to ensure no new flare-ups or hot spots grow.
A combination of strong winds and rain is also playing a role in fire behavior, the press release said. Winds gusting up to 45 mph will stick around through Thursday, but another round of rain should offer some reprieve.
The winds also kicked up a significant amount of dust and ash across Campbell County on Tuesday, leading to several false reports of fire called in, the department said on Thursday morning,
“Please do your best to verify the area of concern prior to contacting 911 to confirm a fire is present. While we are more than willing to investigate, it is our job after all, it can put a real strain on the available resources,” they wrote in a Facebook post.
One new start did come out of the false alarms Tuesday: the now-named Livingston Draw Fire, which is splitting the county line between Campbell County and Johnson County. Crews from multiple counties were responding to the fire Tuesday evening, but no new updates have yet been issued on the fire.
Further south, the La Bonte fire outside of Douglas is maintaining at just shy of 3,500 acres and is at 40% containment. The Incident Management Team working on the fire said in a press release that the fire is burning on both private and BLM land roughly 20 miles south of Douglas.
The fire was first reported last week and is burning in “steep, rugged territory,” the management team said. The cause of the fire is currently unknown. Hand crews and fire engines will receive air support in the coming days to continue suppression efforts, and mopping and monitoring of the current perimeter will be conducted to make sure the fire does not spread to any unburned areas.
