Overview
- Forest Service officials report the Wild River Fire is holding at about 856 acres and is roughly 20 percent contained, with roughly 140 firefighters and a mix of helicopters, engines, a bulldozer, suppression modules and a drone assigned to the incident.
- Crews have nearly doubled containment from earlier in the week by strengthening lines, running burnout operations and using aircraft and a drone to find and extinguish hot spots, and officials said recent higher humidity and rain have aided suppression.
- The U.S. Forest Service has closed affected sections of White Mountain National Forest to preserve firefighter access and public safety while the Appalachian Trail remains open and a community briefing was held to update nearby towns.
- Investigators believe the ignition was human-caused and the probe is ongoing; crews have faced steep, remote terrain that required foot river crossings for direct attack and made access and control more difficult.
- Officials say the fire’s scale is unusual for the White Mountains, driven by dry fall weather and abundant leaf litter, and they project containment by about Nov. 12 but warn full control will depend on weather and significant precipitation.