Good weather and firefighters’ hard work calmed the Pony Fire over the past few days, giving hope to officials, who expect to contain 60 to 80 percent of the wildfire by Wednesday evening.

The fire still threatens park headquarters at Mesa Verde and the research center containing 2 million ancient artifacts, but other than a brief flare-up Tuesday that consumed 50 to 60 additional acres, the blaze has grown very little from the 5,000 acres burned last week.

The 500 personnel assigned to the wildfire have had a hard time reaching the rugged terrain burning in Mesa Verde National Park and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park. Most are camped at Morefield Campground in Mesa Verde and are being carried by helicopter to the north and south ends of the fire to construct lines. From there, crews will hike down the west flank to fight the fire.

Mike Lohrey, incident commander, estimated that the fire would be fully contained by Friday at 6 p.m. if the relative humidity continued to stay above 15 percent and winds stayed calm.

Higher humidity and a high-pressure system can significantly calm fires, explained Gene Rogers, a fire-behavior specialist. "It’s like bring a sauce to a low boil, putting a top on it, and letting it simmer," said Rogers.

Rogers said that once humidity drops below 15 percent, fires are likely to burn out of control.

With wildfires raging across the West and resources tight, officials have released a few of the engines to fight other are fires. The Hamilton Fire, burning near Nucla, was listed as 2,500 acres Wednesday, with 10 percent contained.

Linda Towle, Mesa Verde’s chief of research and resource management, said ruins sites on Wetherill Mesa, which burned in the Pony Fire, were relatively unscathed, except for Mushroom Site, which was burned. The site was a standing rock tower about 5 feet tall with a few small rooms, barely visible from the road. Towle described it as a "small site."

Towle estimated that archaeologists will find 2,000 additional sites in the burned area, but archaeologists will not be able to survey the area until the fire is out and funds become available. The Pony Fire has cost taxpayers approximately $1.7 million.

Doug Bowman, Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park archaeologist, said that the fire destroyed the summer home of the Ute Mountain Ute’s last "traditional" chief, Jack House. The structure, made of poles and mud, had been photographed but was never recorded officially as a historic home.

Bowman said the blaze could uncover new Ancestral Puebloan and Ute artifacts. "To us it’s thrilling to think of the next two or three years and what we might discover," said Bowman.

Park Superintendent Larry Wiese said the park would be reopened as soon as possible after the Pony Fire is completely out. It took the park four days to re-open after the Bircher Fire, and Wiese said they have progressed with the needed road and safety repairs since then.

Wiese said tours to Wetherill Mesa may start in September, and will take visitors on the park’s tram system further into the burned area. "We will try to tie the story of the fire and the recovery into the story of the ancient people," said Wiese.

The Pony Fire started from a lightning strike on the Ute reservation on Aug. 2.

So far, the only injuries reported were caused by heat exhaustion, and one accident when a front-end loader tipped over on Tuesday. The operator was taken into the hospital for observation and later released.