Water plant protection successful overnight as Elk Fire expands 3,000 acres

SHERIDAN COUNTY, WY — Firing operations near the Big Goose water treatment plant Thursday proved successful, as officials said crews were able to complete two miles of containment lines starting from the plant and moving southeast.

"These operations are being conducted with the goal of minimizing damage to the watershed, infrastructure, and communities and preventing the fire’s eastward spread," said a post from the Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team.

The fire itself grew 2,902 acres as of Friday morning, bringing the total to 79,280. The increased acreage meant containment actually shrank from 15% to 14%, but officials said firefighters are making progress overall on all sides of the blaze.

Incident command did authorize the limited deployment of aerial fire retardant in the Big Goose Drainage to continue to protect the critical area. The City of Sheridan government released a statement attempting to put those concerned about contamination of the city's water supply at ease.

"The use of retardant in the Big Goose Watershed has been sparingly and will continue to be; if further retardant is deemed necessary, it will be used in alignment with the strict guidelines of keeping fire retardant drops at least 300 feet from any moving body of water," the statement said. "The City has collected baseline samples of our source water and is working closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to compare any changes to the water in the future. We are confident that these proactive measures will enable us to keep the community informed about any developments."

The U.S. Forest Service released this video Friday afternoon detailing the efforts in the Big Goose watershed area:

There was some good news in Friday afternoon's latest evacuations map, with the Pass Creek area on the northern edge of the fire downgraded from a 'Set' to a 'Ready' status.