RED LODGE, Mont.—Fire crews had a productive day Sunday mopping up hotspots and securing firelines around the 10,165-acre Cascade fire six miles west of this resort town.
“I think things are going pretty well,” fire information officer Betsy Ballard said late Sunday afternoon. “So far the big thunder cells haven’t materialized” that were forecast earlier, with predictions of winds up to 50 mph.
Red Lodge Fire Chief Tom Kuntz said all mandatory evacuations and pre-evacuation orders had been lifted for subdivisions west of Red Lodge.
Almost 750 people are battling the 16-square-mile fire. It was 44 percent contained, said John Bearer, a fire information officer.
Crews fought the fire on three fronts Sunday with a goal of keeping it from coming any closer to the city of Red Lodge or the Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort, which was just a quarter-mile from the fire.
“It was a little bit active today on the east side but they were dropping buckets of water and retardant on the hot spots and this afternoon it looked a lot calmer,” Ballard said.
Some personnel and equipment from the Cascade fire were diverted Sunday to the 763-acre Tumble Creek fire, burning in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness south of Nye, Ballard said.
That lightning-caused fire was reported Friday afternoon.
