Fishing Bridge, WY - A dry cold front with gusty westerly winds arrived at the East Fire Complex (East and Grizzly fires combined) at noon today. Increased fire activity caused fire officials to move crews working in the vicinity of Crow Creek Pass to pre-identified safety zones. "The fire is currently pushing into an old burn northeast of Crow Creek Pass and as long as it stays there, we do not see any immediate threat to Pahaska Teepee and the North Fork Valley communities," said Carl West, Deputy Incident Commander. "If the East fire gets down into the bottom of the Crow Creek drainage and begins to move toward the east, we will issue a pre-evacuation notice to nearby residents," West said.

The wind event is expected to continue until later this evening and unseasonably warm, dry conditions are expected to continue through Thursday. Efforts to clear roadside snags and fire-weakened trees from the East Entrance Road were discontinued today as the fire reburned a section of partially burned forest. Crews have made excellent progress in cutting snags for eventual reopening of the road. Crews continued to make progress on indirect fireline in the Signal Hills south of the Grizzly Fire. Two wilderness spike camps are being utilized, one in Crow Creek and the other in the Signal Hills.

As of 5:00 pm Tuesday the size of the East Fire Complex (East and Grizzly fires combined) is estimated at 18,300 acres. A total of 681 firefighters are assigned to the incident (2 Type 1 crews and 18 Type 2 crews), supported by 12 engines, 11 tenders, 1 heavy lift helicopter, 2 medium and 2 light helicopters. Current containment is estimated at 15%. Estimated cost to date is $2,300,000.