The threat from the Elk Fire is lessened a little Tuesday evening, as a new management team takes control.
A firefighter was injured and six structures including a barn and a cabin were confirmed burned.
The flames are burning in the Big Horn National Forest, just west of Parkman and north of Burgess Junction in Sheridan County.
The fire has burned 32,069 acres and remains zero percent contained, but crews were able to make progress and create some fire lines.
The road closures and evacuation orders remain in effect.
Despite a decrease in fire activity, hundreds of people in and around Dayton, Wyoming have lived in fear over the last couple of days, waiting for the flames to subside.
Tongue River High School classes were canceled on Tuesday but held online.
High school classes will resume on Wednesday.
Slack Elementary School classes were canceled on Tuesday, the school will remain closed, and there will be no classes online.
Middle school volleyball teams played games and the high school football team practiced outside.
“Emergency personnel have given us the green light to proceed as normal (Tuesday) afternoon,” Jeff Jones superintendent of Sheridan County Schools #1, stated in an online letter. “As always, we will monitor the air quality for outdoor activities, assuring we allow students with breathing issues to minimize exposure and/or be excused all together from practices outside if that is what they need. If you are a parent of a child in this situation, please reach out to your child's principal or coach if you have questions or concerns.”
Some of the people in Dayton say they're not too worried.
“That's out my back door, looking over,” Denise Zeeck, Mountain Inn bartender, said while showing a picture of the fire from Monday night. “That was scary. But then we kept watching.”
Dayton residents say Tuesday was much better than the day before with the Elks fire.
“I just started making a list in my head about what I would take if we had to leave, which would just be basic, simple things,” said Kelly Long, Dayton resident.
The weather conditions had citizens throughout the town ready for evacuations.
“Put sprinklers on the roof, watered the yard,” said Shauna McNabb, Dayton resident. “Just preparing my husband. Hooked up the camper in case we did have to evacuate. I went in the house and got birth certificates and titles and anything valuable for paperwork.”
And that preparation was also there at the Foothills Campground for the out-of-town visitors.
“We were on ready, just get everything ready to go just in case,” said Heid Eisenberg, Foothills Campground helper. “Oh, everybody understands as they're coming in. You’ve got to be diligent and ready to go. If we need to knock on your door, it's time to go.”
The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3 took the lead on the fire as of 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“We have a lot of air resources on it that they're doing the structure protection as well as supporting our ground crews that are out there,” said Sara Evans Kirol, Elks fire public information officer. “We have helicopters and aircraft and there we've done some retardant and that's held around structures also.”
One firefighter was injured and the terrain is treacherous.
“There's some heavy and dead and down fuel,” Evans Kirol said. “So they were pretty thick in some areas. It's along the face of the fire and so it's very steep and rugged country.”
And now those living in Dayton rest a little easier but remain on alert.
“We’ve got to worry about the wind,” Zeeck said.
“Our firefighters have been putting in considerable effort to protect our very important values of private land, the homes in our community, and forest resources as well,” Evans Kirol said.
A community meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 2 starting at 7 p.m. at the Tongue River High School at 1150 Main Street in Dayton.
