The was estimated at 72 percent contained as of Tuesday morning as the dozens of firefighters still battling the blaze prepare to face a week of moderate activity.
“(Tuesday’s) forecast includes cooler temperatures, rising humidity and a chance of isolated afternoon thundershowers,” incident commanders said in a news briefing. “However, fuels remain critically dry, and more active fire behavior could resume when dry weather conditions return.”
The 38,267-acre fire is burning northwest of Walden in a mix of state, federal and private land. Areas of the burn area are also across the state line in Wyoming.
FF’s monitored hotspots near control lines Monday on the .
— Medicine Bow-Routt NFs & Thunder Basin NG (@FS_MBRTB)
The stands apart from other wildfires and is so difficult to harness because of its 38,000-plus acres of mostly beetle-kill timber, a volatile fuel that forces firefighters . The U.S. Forest Service hopes the fire provides a blueprint for how to fight blazes in the millions of acres of forest in Colorado and across the West that have been ravaged by insects.
Officials say the fire might not be fully contained until Oct. 21 — 121 days after its ignition.