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  • Approved for CNN

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    Posted June 27, 2012 by
    Kassikaye
    Location
    Big Piney, Wyoming
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Colorado and Utah wildfires

    Kassikaye and 14 other iReporters contributed to Open Story: Western wildfires
    More from Kassikaye
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    Fontenelle Fire/Big Piney, Wyoming

    By Kassikaye  |  Posted June 27, 2012  |  Big Piney, Wyoming
     

    CNN PRODUCER NOTE     Kassikaye is from Big Piney, Wyoming, and she says the wildfire is 25 miles away from her home. 'We live in a little town with five hundred people, something like this is huge,' she says. 'At night you can see the flames from your back door on top of the mountain range,' she says. She drove up towards the mountain range where she says the fire is far more vivid. She says the fire is not currently threatening her home, but if she had to evacuated it would probably be due to smoke inhalation. 'Vehicles are covered in ash, and the smoke is so thick. Although it was the afternoon it looked really dark, the smoke was just that thick and heavy. It was a creepy feeling,' she says.
    - Jareen, CNN iReport producer

    : Emergency Area Closure in effect for the Fontenelle Fire in the Wyoming Range, which is now officially reported to be 12,000 acres this morning. It started on Sunday in Lincoln County and has spread into Snider Basin in Sublette County. 3 helicopters, 5 engines, and 2 crews of 20 firefighters each are working this fire, as well as help from the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office and Volunteer Fire Departments. The fire grew 9,000 acres overnight, making it hard for the people of Big Piney/Pinedale/LaBarge wyoming to breathe. The sky is filled with smoke due to the 45 mph winds, its making it impossible for the fire teams to do their jobs.

    Getting an additional twenty-five firefighters on location by Wednesday night, U.S. Forest Service and local volunteer firefighters from Lincoln and Sublette County continue to wage a tense battle with Mother Nature in the Wyoming Range. With the total personnel count now at 118, the hard-working crews continue to construct control lines, while the fire continues to jump over them growing to more than 17,000 acres from Sunday’s 100 acre start.

    The wind pattern of earlier this week shifted on Wednesday to a more typical west, northwest flow pushing the Fontenelle Fire towards the moist creek bottoms of the Coal and South Piney Creeks. Hopefully this change will enable the fire crews to better establish anchor points to begin building containment. All Sublette County eyes remain on the horizon looking for rain to further help contain the devastation.

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