Batterman Road Fire 50% Contained, Evacuation Levels Could Come Down Thursday

State and local fire officials held a virtual public meeting Wednesday night on the Batterman Road Fire and things are looking much more promising.

The Batterman Road Fire is now estimated to be 50% contained. Total acreage actually fell by 50 acres Wednesday to 14,325 due to improve mapping. Rock Island Creek saw the largest fire growth over the last couple of days. Officials said their biggest area of concern going forward is the Beaver Creek Drainage.

Wednesday saw some thunderstorms pass through the fire in the morning, but fire lines held well against the 35-40 mph winds. Although similar weather is expected for the region Thursday, the actual area of the fire should get a slight reprieve.

Fire Behavior Analyst Don Strand said that at this point any high concentrations of smoke is from islands of unburned fuel within the fire perimeter. Those types of interior flare-ups can be expected over the next few days.

Northwest Team 12 Deputy Incident Commander Bob Schindelar stated that the potential for fire spread is diminishing each day, and they hope to have the fire completely contained by the end of the weekend.

Resources are already being taken off of the Batterman Road Fire in order to fight other, higher activity fires in different parts of the state. In fact, personnel on the fire slightly dropped Wednesday to 336.

According to the Incident Management Team, all evacuation levels will be dropped to Level 1 mid-Thursday if no changes to the current situation occur. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has also begun reopening some of its road closures in the area. The following road closures were lifted Wednesday afternoon: Saunders Ave./Batterman Rd./Ward Ave./4th Street SE and Grant Road/Pangborn Dr. at the roundabout.