Crews from four fire agencies responded to a grass fire Tuesday in the Coon Creek drainage east of East Animas Road (County Road 250) north of Durango.
“We’ve walked the fire, and it’s at 20.1 acres,” Durango Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said at 7:30 p.m. “We’ve knocked down some areas, but there are still flames around the bases of some cottonwoods. They’re starting to fall down, so we’re not sending any personnel in there because it’s just too dangerous.”
The fire started after a resident, who was burning paper debris in a small fire ring on her property, thought the fire was out and left it unattended while she went to get the mail, Hanks said. When she returned, sparks had ignited grass and other fuels near the ring.
“It’s the IRS’ fault this fire happened,” DFPD Deputy Chief of Operations Hal Doughty said jokingly, “because she was burning tax documents.”
Thirty seven personnel, including firefighters from the Upper Pine River and Los Pinos fire protection districts and the U.S. Forest Service, were on scene to fight the fire, Hanks said.
Several spotters were placed on Missionary Ridge Road (County Road 253) in case the fire tries to go uphill.
“We did have a couple of spot fires up the hill, but we were able to get on them really fast and knock them down,” Hanks said.
Three structures up Missionary Ridge were evacuated.
“They appear to be safe right now,” he said. “There are significant amounts of brush and trees up there, so fire would travel uphill very quickly.”
The evacuees will be allowed to return to their homes for the night, but the DFPD has reverse-911 numbers lined up in case they have to evacuate them again quickly.
The fire has crossed several property lines.
“It started in a manicured field 50 feet from a tennis court,” Hanks said. “Because it was started in a campfire ring that was smaller than 3 feet by 3 feet, she didn’t need a permit.”
Fire crews were stationed around the perimeter overnight, and active firefighting will resume this morning.
“Humidity is going up, and the temperature is coming down, so active flames are going down, and that should last overnight,” he said.
Local fire agencies are concerned about high fire danger after a dry winter.
“We are starting to get some good green-up of live fuels,” Hanks said. “But remember all that end-of-the-year rain? We had a lot of growth after that, and that fuel is now dead.”
Because no significant precipitation is in the weather forecast, he is not issuing any controlled-burn permits dated beyond May 30.
“If nothing changes, we could easily be in fire season by the end of May,” he said. “It’s been a really nice advantage to have that permit policy in place because it gives us the opportunity to talk to people about how dangerous it is right now.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
