The outlook for containing the blaze was “very positive,” she told the Jackson Hole Daily on Monday.

The Sandy Fire hadn’t grown since Saturday while firefighters had built a fire line — a break in fuel intended to stop or slow a spreading blaze — around the fire. In addition, some rain had helped “cool things down,” she said. Closures of six trails in the area and one Forest Service road, however, remain in place.

“The fact that we’ve got 150 people up there and we’re already starting to downsize, that’s very positive,” Hemenway said. “The crews up there haven’t had any injuries; they’ve been working very hard. They’ve done everything they can to shut it down. At this point, I’m feeling pretty optimistic.”

Though fire is a natural part of the landscape in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Hemenway said fire officials decided to pursue a strategy of “full suppression” in part because of the recent history of fires in the area. In the fall of 2018, the Roosevelt Fire tore through roughly 61,000 acres and burnt down 55 homes in the Hoback Ranches subdvision south of Bondurant. Hemenway said suppression of the Sandy Fire was intended to “protect the surrounding communities” like Bondurant, Pinedale and Jackson farther to the north.

“It was, ‘Let’s get on it and get it out so it’s not jumping over the ridge and getting into town,’ ” Hemenway said, describing fire managers’ decision-making.

The fire is the largest burning near Jackson Hole, according to Teton Interagency Fire, but relatively small compared to other fires like the Hermits Peak fire in New Mexico, which devoured roughly 340,000 acres and cost $273 million to fight, claiming over 900 structures, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The Sandy Fire, by contrast, had cost $675,000 to manage by press time Monday and had claimed no structures.

Officials have closed six trails near the Sandy Fire: The Cliff Creek, Highline, Bondurant Creek, Snag Creek, and Cliff Creek Parallel trails. One Forest Service road is also closed: The Cliff Creek Trailhead Road, also known as Forest Service Road 30565. Hemenway said she didn’t know when the closures would be lifted.

Hemenway is part of a Type 3 incident management team, a level up from a Type 4 team that consists largely of local fire managers. Type 3 teams bring in outside officials who are able to deploy more people and resources than local crews. Type 2 teams are scaled up from there, and Type 1 teams are the largest and most well equipped to handle larger scale fires like the Marshall Fire that burned through the city of Louisville, town of Superior and unincorporated Boulder County, Colorado, destroying over 1,000 homes and 30 commercial structures on Dec. 30, 2021.

Hemenway said the Type 3 team likely will hand command back to the Type 4 team within the week.