A wildfire tearing through central Wyoming destroyed buildings and forced hundreds of evacuations.
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Anyone with livestock or pets will be allowed to go into the area with a police escort until 6 p.m., said Natrona County Fire Protection District Marshal Bob Fawcett.
Drought and unusually warm temperatures that have persisted in much of the region have been cited by USA fire managers as key factors in a 2015 fire season in the U.S. West that brought the most destructive blaze in California history and the largest on record in Washington state.
Winds topping 50 miles per hour Sunday afternoon pushed the fire onto grassland from a composting area at a landfill about a mile from Evansville.
A shelter for evacuees has been set up at Casper College on the third floor of the Student Activities Center.
Fawcett says so far around half of the 10-thousand acre fire has been contained.
He said 536 homes, the residences for about 1,350 people, were evacuated.
“I’m telling people if they do come just to stay hooked up in case they do have to leave – not to get too comfortable”, she said.
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According to reports, officials say homes in the Cole Creek area have been destroyed by fire which has rapidly spread. Later it was announced the Cole Creek Road will be closed Monday, leaving several residents displaced for the time being.
