Fishing Bridge, WY - Plans to reopen the East Entrance Road to Yellowstone Park have been delayed due to extreme fire behavior associated with winds gusting up to 25 to 30 mph, which occurred Wednesday afternoon. Extreme fire behavior below the road in the vicinity of Sylvan Lake temporarily closed the road to fire traffic and forced crews to move to pre-identified safety zones. Fire officials continue to be concerned today, due to forecasted record warm temperatures and the threat of thunderstorms with 40 mph downdraft winds in the fire area.

The Grizzly fire made several wind-driven runs to the northeast yesterday afternoon, eventually spotting over Grizzly Peak and its associated ridges. Crews will be working today to prepare a 1.5-mile long stretch of the East Entrance Road near Sylvan Lake for a planned burnout operation. Today's objective will be to contain the northeastern movement of the Grizzly fire in an effort to keep it from moving east of Sylvan Pass into the Middle Creek drainage and the East fire from moving into the bottom of the Crow Creek drainage.

Reopening of the East Entrance Road will be delayed until extreme fire behavior subsides and the road is considered safe for public travel. The good news is that fire crews have made excellent progress preparing already burned-over sections of the road for eventual reopening. If weather cooperates, and the fire is not directly threatening the road, fire and park officials hope to reopen the East Entrance Road sometime early next week.

PLEASE NOTE: Park viewpoints, trails and facilities in the Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone Lake, Bridge Bay and Grant Village areas remain open for business as usual. Lodging and businesses west of Cody along the North Fork Road corridor remain open. The east entrance (Cody side) is the only park entrance affected by the fire.

As of 11:00 am Thursday morning, there are currently NO Pre-Evacuation or Evacuation notifications in place for Pahaska Teepee or the North Fork Valley communities. "The East fire is currently pushing into an old burn northeast of Crow Creek Pass and as long as it stays there, we do not see any immediate threat to Pahaska Teepee and the North Fork Valley communities," said Carl West, Deputy Incident Commander. "If the East fire gets down into the bottom of the Crow Creek drainage or the Grizzly fire gets into the bottom of the Middle Fork drainage and begins to move toward the east, we will issue a pre-evacuation notice to nearby residents," West said. The fire team will be working closely with the Park County Sheriff's Department and will update nearby residents immediately if the situation changes.