Firefighters on Sunday reported good progress on the Toe fire, burning on Sleeping Ute Mountain on Ute Mountain Ute lands about seven miles southwest of Towoac.
It is 90 percent contained and remains at 369 acres in size, said information officer Pam Wilson, of the Durango Interagency Dispatch Center.
The Type 3 team plans to transition the fire over to a Type 4 incident commander at 7 a.m. Monday because of the limited threat of spread, Wilson said.
“The 20-man Navajo Hotshot crew, a helicopter, and the Towaoc ambulance will remain working the fire,” said Incident Commander Rich Gustafson. The other three crews, as well a few local resources, will be released Sunday evening, but it will spend the night and travel home on Monday.
Heavy cloud cover and higher humidity, along with a light, steady rain that fell Friday afternoon through about midnight Friday held the Toe fire within its 369-acre perimeter.
The rain helped “cool” the fire, but it was not heavy enough for fire managers to call the fire “out.”
On Saturday, firefighters were extinguishing hot spots and securing the perimeter using Minimum Impact Suppression Techniques, such as cold trailing – firefighters feeling with their bare hand for heat and then digging them out and extinguish hot spots. This technique is being used to minimize further disturbance to sacred Ute land, Wilson said.
A flight Friday morning by the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control Multi-mission aircraft measured the fire at 369 acres.
The fire, detected about 3 p.m. Thursday, was most likely started by lightning earlier in the week. Often a fire will smolder for a few days until the weather warms up and wind picks up.
