The Mullen fire covers 151,711 acres of Medicine Bow National Forest and some private land. It is 14% contained with 1,104 personnel working the fire according to InciWeb, the Incident Information System, as of October 5 at 6:34 a.m.
“It’s difficult being displaced with the added stress of not knowing how long we’ll be away from home and the condition we’ll find it in when we do eventually get there,” said Jelm resident Devyn Farley.
Farley was evacuated the night of Sept. 25, along with her husband and daughter, and is currently staying at another daughter’s house in Laramie.
The mandatory evacuations for Wyoming include the communities of Rambler, Albany, Fox Park, Wold, Woods Landing, Graham and adjacent areas, Lower Keystone and Moore’s Gulch according to InciWeb.
Centennial was put in a pre-evacuation state October 4 due to strong winds and the potential of the Mullen fire spreading according to a Facebook post by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. There are also evacuation orders for some Colorado locations.
Farley has lived in Jelm for 11 years and this is her fourth evacuation. She said this is her first evacuation in the middle of the night though, which she said was due to sudden wind changes.
“I was a little lacking in the packing department,” said Farley. “In general, I’m not one to overpack and have a handful of cats with special needs so actually a majority of the packing was geared towards pet support. What I was unable to pack I’ve had to purchase.”
Currently the fire is about two miles from her home said Farley.
“It’s a large fire in dry, windy conditions so I can’t help but be a bit nervous,” said Farley.
InciWeb predicts that in the next 72 hours the spread potential of the fire is high due to the dead and down fuels the fire may consume and the dry conditions of the area.
“I want to express my gratitude to the firefighters and support personnel who are battling to protect structures in the affected areas,” said Governor Gordon in a media release on Sept. 28. “These folks have been working very hard in a well-coordinated effort under extremely difficult conditions.”
The fire was reported on Thursday, Sept. 17 and the cause is still under investigation according to InciWeb.
Gordon said he directed many state resources to help the affected communities of the Mullen fire and support the teams that are helping control the fire. Wyoming has also made an emergency Fire Suppression Account and received a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Fire Management Assistance Grant to help suppress the fire.
For more information on the Mullen fire go to InciWeb here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7208/
To see what the smoke from the Mullen Fire looked like in Laramie on Sunday, look at our photo spread here.
