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Rich Dennison, K2Radio News

After a good weekend of fighting the Sheep Herder Hill fire, Emergency Management and fire management has lifted most evacuation orders surrounding the fire and is now allowing landowners and residents back on the mountain. According to Public Information Officer Andy Lyon, beginning at 9AM September 17th residents and landowners, with proof of residency and ownership, will be allowed to access their property.

Andy Lyon joined Brian Scott this morning to talk about the progress,

One portion of the fire area will remain closed and under a mandatory evacuation order. The evacuation area is bounded roughly by Limber Pine Trail on the north, south to Hazelton Trail, Cougar Drive on the west, and east to Canyon Drive. The evacuation area also includes lower Ponderosa Park Road, which will be closed at the switchback.  Active firefighting operations and numerous hazard trees in those areas make it unsafe for residents at this time.

The Muddy Mountain Road will be open to the general public, also beginning at 9:00 a.m. today. Public access to Muddy Mountain will be from South Circle Drive or Coal Mountain Road ONLY.

Emergency vehicle traffic will continue to be heavy on Casper Mountain and surrounding roads and everyone is urged to drive slowly, with headlights on. In addition, numerous damaged trees and other hazards still exist within the fire perimeter. Fire crews are continuing to mop up and to remove hazard trees but smoke may be visible in some areas for many days to come. Sunday night, a Type III Incident Management Team, led by Incident Commander Dick Terry of the Wyoming State Division of Forestry, took control of the fire, working with numerous federal, state and local cooperating agencies. Fire crews, fire engines and aviation resources will all continue to work on mitigating areas of concern.

A third community meeting will be held tonight at 5:00 p.m. at Casper City Hall to update residents about the status of firefighting efforts.

 

 

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