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Cody, Wyo. August 29, 2024—The Clearwater Fire on the Wapiti Ranger District of the Shoshone National Forest remains at 1966-acres with 91% containment. The fire was downgraded to a type-4 incident earlier this week and transitioned back to local leadership. 

Operations - Fire growth remains minimal on the Clearwater Fire. Over the week firefighters on the ground increased containment to 75%. Over the last couple days resources have been scouting opportunities to go direct and secure areas that are retaining heat on the western edges of the fire. Today crews will be inserted to engage those areas and enact that plan. They are hoping to have those areas secured in the next couple days. Fire managers will continue work on the Clearwater Fire and take appropriate action based on complexity, safety, fire behavior, and weather.

A change of command took place last night as a new incident management team took operational control of the Clearwater Fire. 

Fire Location: 11 miles west of Wapiti, WYSize: 1,896 acresContainment: 62%Personnel: 78Start Date: 7/19/24Cause: LightningIncident Commander (IC): Ron Steffens, Wyoming Type 3 Team

Fire Location: 11 miles west of Wapiti, WYSize: 1,896 acresContainment: 62%Personnel: 80Start Date: 7/19/24Cause: LightningIncident Commander (IC): Ron Steffens, Wyoming Type 3 Team

Fire Location: 11 miles west of Wapiti, WYSize: 1,896 acresContainment: 43%Personnel: 80Start Date: 7/19/24Cause: LightningIncident Commander (IC): Ron Steffens, Wyoming Type 3 Team

Firefighters often refer to standing, weakened trees as hazard trees or snags. These two terms refer to trees with structural defects that make them more likely to fall in whole or in part. 

Fire Location: 11 miles west of Wapiti, WYSize: 1,896 acresContainment: 43%Personnel: 142Start Date: 7/19/24Cause: LightningIncident Commander (IC): Ron Steffens, Wyoming Type 3 Team

The Clearwater Fire has set up an Incident Command Post (ICP) at the day use area at Buffalo Bill State Park North Fork Campground. As a result, the day use area is currently temporarily closed for public use. However, the remainder of the campground is open to the public.

Fire Location: 11 miles west of Wapiti, WYSize: 1,878 acresContainment: 40%Personnel: 142Start Date: 7/19/24Cause: LightningIncident Commander (IC): Ron Steffens, Wyoming Type 3 Team