Firefighters on the reservation say mop-up and rehabilitation along the fire line continued Saturday. Officials say crews have been successful in keeping fire growth to a minimum in the last 24 hours.

     About 270 personnel were assigned to efforts but officials say as they get closer to full containment,
that number will continue to decline. Initial attack teams will stay assigned to the area in case new fires are sparked. Incident managers say a Burned Area Response Team will arrive tomorrow to survey the damaged areas before the blaze is considered 100 percent contained.

     Fire officials say that complex of fires burned more than 43,000 acres. Fire officials say two grass fires popped up Friday night southeast of Edgemont. One was contained at 1,000 acres, the other at 873 acres. Forest Service officials say three lightning-caused fires flared up in Northeast Wyoming Saturday afternoon but were contained quickly thanks to the speedy response of fire crews both on the ground and in the air.

Brendyn Medina

Julie Oberlander