Wildfires burning east and west of Durango created smoky skies over the area and prompted evacuations and power shutoffs in the towns of Rico and Pagosa Springs.
The Colorado Department of Fire Prevention and Control’s weekly fire environment briefing stated that western Colorado is in for at least another week of hot, dry and windy weather, meaning that heightened fire conditions will persist.
Durango Fire Protection District Chief Randy Black said high fire danger and smoky conditions are expected to persist for the foreseeable future. He urged residents to adhere to the region’s stage 2 fire restrictions and to be extra vigilant to avoid starting new fires in the area, especially as resources and crews are spread thin fighting fires across the state.
“We just want to thank everybody for their patience,” Black said. “We made it through last week’s red flag days with pretty minimal issues. But we really just have to be extra vigilant right now, with fire conditions as bad as they are to try to minimize any ignition source.”
Black urged residents to refrain from calling 911 to report smoke in the are. Too many calls, he said, can overload the system and bury a report of a new fire starting. Black said that the Stoner Mesa Fire will cause smoky conditions to persist for the foreseeable future, because wind keeps blowing the fire and its smoke east.
“If you see a fire starting, or the origin of the smoke, or you see fire that's close to you, you need to call 911,” Black said. “If it is general smokiness or smoke in the region, that's when we don't need people to call 911.”
The Oak Fire started Sunday afternoon in the Spruce Circle neighborhood of Aspen Springs. By Monday, the blaze had grown to 75 acres and prompted the evacuations of 900 people as the fire continued to move east.
Pagosa Fire Protection District Chief Robert Bertram said the Oak Fire was declared a disaster by the governor and was reclassified as a stage 3 fire. That, in turn, allowed the allocation of resources from the National Forest Service, which mobilized air tankers and fire crews from Los Pinos Fire Protection District, Upper Pine Fire Protection District and South Fork Fire Department as mutual aid to fight the blaze.
“The cause of the fire is currently still under investigation,” Bertram said. “We did lose some out buildings, a travel trailer, a garage, a pump house, a travel trailer. But as far as we know at this point, we have not found any residential structures that have been lost.”
On Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency published a news release stating that federal funds were approved to help cover up to 75% of the costs of fighting the fire.
“FEMA Region 8 approved the state’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) after receiving the request this afternoon and determining that the fire threatened such destruction that it would constitute a major disaster,” the release stated. “At the time of the request, the Oak Fire was threatening more than 5,100 buildings and 2,000 homes.”
La Plata Electric Association CEO Chris Hansen said the energy co-op had to de-energize two circuits supplying power to the neighborhoods. LPEA’s outage viewer indicated that 186 meters in the vicinity of the blaze were without power.
Hansen said the reason LPEA cuts power in the event of a wildfire is to prevent live transmission lines from igniting more fires and to keep firefighters safe.
“If they’re in that area fighting fire and a line comes down and it’s energized, it could be very dangerous to the firefighters,” he said.
Bertram said that despite the relatively small size of the fire, the terrain and number of homes in the area make it a challenging one to fight.
“It's a very steep drain, heavily wooded, and is densely populated,” Bertram said. “How we still have so many structures standing, I don't know.”
The 3,579-acre Stoner Mesa Fire, burning about 20 miles northeast of Dolores, remains uncontained. As of Monday afternoon, the wildfire is primarily active on the south side of Spring Creek and east of Stoner Creek.
Rico remains under pre-evacuation notice, with no immediate changes expected, said Cindy Howard, Stoner Mesa Fire spokesperson. Most of the fire activity Sunday afternoon and overnight occurred on the fire’s right flank, off the heel, near the confluence of Spring Creek and Stoner Creek, she said.
Flames have been moving up the right flank in that area, prompting crews to focus on building indirect fire lines along the south side, she added.
Firefighters are concentrating efforts on protecting values at risk along County Road 38 and Colorado Highway 145. Two smaller camps, separated from the main firefighting camp, are being established to position crews closer to the fire line.
“The biggest impact at the moment is just the smoke impacts,” Howard said.
Smoke has traveled into the Cortez, Durango and Telluride areas, and smoke advisories have been issued, she said.
The air quality in Durango has been deteriorating, and has sat between 70 and 80 (moderate) AQI on Monday. There may be some risk for certain people, particularly those susceptible to air pollution.
Howard reminded the public that smoke patterns will change as conditions change.
Firefighters are making significant progress in containing the Water Canyon Fire in Montezuma County, which was reported to be 90% contained as of Monday.
Firefighters planned to access the bottom of the 500-foot canyon to assess and suppress a spot fire that ignited over the weekend.
“If the situation is deemed to be too risky, our personnel will exit the canyon and another course of action will be pursued,” a spokesperson said.
Containment efforts have been aided by the effective use of available resources and the dedication of firefighting teams on the ground.
“The biggest thing is just the IC (incident command) did a good job with being able to utilize all the resources that we had available to get this fire contained. It was challenging. The weather was challenging. We ended up with high winds, no rain – that kind of stuff,” the spokesperson said.
As of Monday, there was no significant public safety risk from the Water Canyon Fire or the nearby Ute Mountain area.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
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