Fire Officials Clarify “Contained” and “Extinguished”

The Sheepherder Hill fire grew to just under 16,000 acres Tuesday night. The fire is 10 percent contained.

Officials say firefighters are making headway and expect to have the fire fully contained by Saturday. However, fire information officer Neal Kephart says there’s a big difference between a fully-contained fire and an extinguished fire.

Containing just basically means that there’s some sort of a fire line around it, whether that’s a road, a bulldozed line or a hand line. It does not mean it is out or controlled - there still might be a lot of active fire within that line," Kephart said.

Kephart says firefighters were aided Tuesday by cooler temperatures, lower humidity and less-gusty winds. He expects firefighters to continue establishing lines on the west and northwest boundaries of the fire Wednesday.