A fire that hit four sheds, a pile of old tires and part of a single-family home in the Arboles-Tiffany area around 2:45 p.m. kept firefighters from around La Plata County busy well into Sunday evening.
“There was substantial property loss,” Los Pinos Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Tom Aurnhammer said, but no one was injured.
It only took about an hour to 1½ hours to get the blaze under control, but firefighters were at the scene past 7:30 p.m. mopping up hot spots, Aurnhammer said.
“Tire fires are very difficult to extinguish,” he said.
In addition, mop-up operations were hampered by at least two brush fires that broke out later Sunday, one in Archuleta County and one in the Durango Fire Protection District coverage area.
The fires had crews across the region scrambling all Sunday evening.
Los Pinos Fire led the response at the Arboles-Tiffany fire with assistance coming from the Durango Fire Protection District and the Pagosa Fire Protection District.
Los Pinos provided an engine and a tanker, DFPD provided an engine and a water tender, and Pagosa Fire provided an engine.
Aurnhammer estimated a total of about 20 firefighters from all three districts responded to the Arboles-Tiffany fire, but some were later pulled away to deal with the brush fires.
The cause of the Arboles fire is undetermined, and it is under investigation.
“It’s that time of the year,” Aurnhammer said. “You have a lot of folks burning, and the afternoon winds pick up. It has the potential to get pretty bad.”
patrick@durangoherald.com
