Wyoming News Briefs

NEWCASTLE, Wyo. (AP) — Help is arriving to bolster ranks battling a growing wildfire near Newcastle. Officials say the Oil Creek fire scorched nearly 91 square miles and was about 40 percent contained last night. More than 500 firefighters are on the ground there, helped by 11 bulldozers, six water tenders and dozens of other vehicles. No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the blaze is under investigation. Crews also planned to build more containment lines overnight. It is among several major fires across the state.

DENVER (AP) — Rain cooled Colorado's wildfires yesterday, but elsewhere in the West firefighters battling blazes chewing through bone-dry pine and brush. Fires in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado sent haze and smoke across Colorado's Front Range, prompting air-quality health advisories as firefighters warned of growing fires in sparsely populated areas.

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — A Cowlitz County fire and rescue chief is getting a lot of practice fighting wildfires while he toils on Wyoming's 138-mile Arapaho fire, one of roughly 45 large fires burning across the nation. The Daily News in Longview, Washington, reports Chief Dave LaFave has taken a lead role fighting the Arapaho fire, near Douglas, Wyo. He is overseeing a crew of about 700 firefighters.

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Officials have still not identified a man whose body was recovered from the North Platte River on Monday. The Associated Press reports the man from his inflatable tube into the water late last month. The Casper Fire Department recovered the body tangled in debris downstream from the place.