Cedar Fire 22% contained after one week

Fire containment crews on Monday sought to cordon off the Cedar Creek Fire the day after it doubled in size to almost 42 square miles.

Almost 900 firefighters are fighting the wildfire and the town of Cedar Creek is under a pre-evacuation notice.

During the overnight hours from Saturday into Sunday, officials said a portion of the fire’s southern edge had crossed a containment line along the western edge of Cedar Creek and was now burning to the east of that line.

In the southwest corner of the fire the crews may conduct burnout operations when and if conditions are favorable.

Because of risky firefighting conditions, firefighters were focused on protecting structures and building containment lines away from the fire.

The cause of the Beaver Creek Fire is under investigation, and law enforcement located a vehicle of interest on Monday.

The public can continue to get information on the Cedar Fire by calling the 311 Northeastern Arizona Public Information System at 928-333- 3412.

On the governor’s official Twitter account Wednesday, Herbert said evacuations “likely could have been avoided if drones hadn’t interrupted air attack on the fire”.

Elsewhere in the West, a forest fire near the Colorado-Wyoming line exploded in size and forced campers to evacuate.

According to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service, the Beaver Creek Fire in Colorado has burned about 7,000 acres as of Wednesday.

There are about 30 structures almost 1.5-miles south of the fire, some of which are private, but others are forest-service owned.

“It’s billowing pretty good”, North Routt Fire Protection District Chief Mike Swinsick said Tuesday. It wasn’t clear how many people fled.

The fire is situated in heavy timber, with beetle-killed lodgepole pine trees.

Increased humidity and cooler temperatures Tuesday could help firefighting efforts, but will also bring more erratic winds and evening thunderstorms. With the more than 12-square-mile fire nearly fully surrounded, firefighters shifted focus to battling hot spots within containment lines. More closures are anticipated on Wednesday, officials said.

More than 15,000 people in nearby mountain communities have been told to prepare to evacuate.