Federal firefighting managers working the Cache Creek Fire near Rifle were hoping cooler temperatures and higher humidity, mixed with some rain, would help with fire containment efforts into the weekend.

As of Saturday morning, the fire located about 8 miles southwest of Rifle near Houston Mountain had burned 1,409 acres, but had grown by less than 100 acres since Thursday.

The weather conditions have helped matters, but pockets of heavy, dead timber was expected to continue to burn in the fire’s interior.

“Firefighters have made significant progress creating fireline around much of the Cache Creek Fire,” according to a Saturday update from the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Blue Team, which is also overseeing the Cabin Lake Fire burning in the Flat Tops near Buford.

“As firelines cool and firefighters extinguish hotspots, incident managers anticipate increasing containment in the next days,” fire management officials said of the Cache Creek Fire.

Areas near Battlement Reservoir Creek remain on pre-evacuation notice, but no structures have been lost to the fire.

An emergency area closure for parts of the Rifle Ranger District of the White River National Forest near the fire remain in effect.

Meanwhile, the Cabin Lake Fire was at approximately 1,077 acres and was 20 percent contained as of Saturday morning. But cooler temperatures were also expected to helped with efforts there.

The fire is burning about 5.5 miles south of the town of Buford, near the New Castle-to-Buford Road in the Flat Tops.

Seven Lakes Lodge and neighboring cabins remain in pre-evacuation status, and the Buford/New Castle Road is closed at Rio Blanco County Road 10 to Forest Service Road 601 (Meadow Lake Campground turnoff).