The forest fire in the Rural Municipality of Piney is now about thirty per cent contained.

That is the estimate by Manitoba Sustainable Development and according to Earl Simmons they could have the fire extinguished in another seven to ten days. He notes the fire is still about 4,700 hectares in size and has not grown since Monday.

Simmons says crews are making good progress on putting out the fire. He notes showers Wednesday helped the situation. Simmons says the cat line is doing what it was supposed to do.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner was brought in to assist in case sprinklers needed to be placed on buildings. Simmons says the Incident Commander now feels that is not necessary and will be releasing them. He notes the fire is still about three kilometres from Badger.

"We are feeling really confident about the community of Badger being safe and any structures adjacent to the fire," he says.

Thursday's forecast calls for winds gusting out of the southwest. Simmons says this could pose challenges in the northeast portion, though the wind will blow it away from the community of Badger. He says, however, helicopters and water bombers are available if needed.

The cause of this fire remains under investigation. Simmons says investigators know it was human-caused.