Burro Fire expands in Bear Creek as forest dries out

Friday, Jun 29, 2018 9:23 PM Updated Friday, Jun. 29, 2018 9:54 PM

Fire still ‘manageable,’ but it’s expected to grow

A Burro Fire crewman back-burns an area of the San Juan National Forest on a bulldozer line above Bear Creek Canyon.

Owen Johnson/Unaweep Fire Use Module

This aerial shot shows the proximity of the Burro Fire in the Dolores Valley and the 416 Fire in the Animas Valley to the east.

Courtesy photo

The majority of growth in the Burro Fire occurred in the northwest portion of the heat perimeter, according to an infrared mapping flight about 10:35 p.m. Thursday.

Dry fuels and hot weather are causing the Burro Fire to flare up. Here, flames approach the containment line near the top of Bear Creek Canyon.

Owen Johnson/Unaweep Fire Use Module

The Burro Fire spike camp early Monday morning after daily briefing meeting and breakfast.

Emily Rice/The Journal

The Burro Fire spike camp early Monday morning during daily briefing meeting and breakfast.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Crews working the Burro Fire gather for their morning meeting and briefing to receive daily assignments and information on the fire’s status.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Brian Duran, of Taos, New Mexico, listens to the morning briefing meeting on Monday morning.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Pike Hotshot Jamie Sauer after the Monday morning briefing meeting.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Black Mountain Hotshot Isaac Walden chats with Andy Lyon, a public information officer for the incident management team.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Black Mountain Hotshot crews work to clear underbrush from the path of the Burro fire on June 18 to slow its spread and intensity.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Black Mountain Hotshot Skylr Penna works with the crew to clear brush in the path of the Burro Fire on June 18.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Members of the Black Mountain Hotshots, of Carson City, Nevada, work to clear underbrush from the path of the Burro Fire to slow its spread and intensity.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Black Mountain Hotshots work to clear underbrush from the path of the Burro fire to slow its spread and intensity.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Black Mountain Hotshots work to clear underbrush from the path of the Burro Fire as lookout Josh Petrell from Lake Tahoe watches the horizon for any outbreaks.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Lookout Josh Petrell, of the Black Mountain Hotshots, demonstrates how he determines humidity at 11,000 feet.

Emily Rice/The Journal

A burned area in the Bear Creek area on Monday.

Emily Rice/The Journal

A burned area in the Bear Creek area on Monday.

Emily Rice/The Journal

Heavy rains might have put knocked the Burro Fire down, but smoke plumes visible from a lookout post on Monday clearly indicated it wasn’t out.

Emily Rice/The Journal

The Black Mountain Hotshots take out trees along a firebreak near the Gold Run trail on June 18. The burn scar from the Burro Fire in Bear Creek Canyon can be seen in the background.

Jim Mimiaga/The Journal

Members of the Pike Hotshots, of Monument, Colorado, at the spike camp breakfast above Bear Creek Canyon.

Andy Lyon/Rocky Mountain Incident Command

A skidder drags downed timber from a bulldozed fire line on Monday.

Andy Lyon/Rocky Mountain Incident Command

The Burro Fire grew by 300 acres since Thursday to 4,136 acres, and is expected to continue growing because of dry fuels and hot, windy weather.

The fire is creeping down Bear Creek and has spread toward the northwest and northeast into the Grindstone Lake area.

Containment remains at 40 percent along the southwestern border, where a bulldozer line has been installed along the rim of Bear Creek canyon.

Overall, the wildfire has been “very manageable,” said Patrick Seekins, Dolores District Fire Management officer.

While it has slowly moved toward Colorado Highway 145, fire officials do not expect to make it to where there is private property and residences. Evacuations orders are not warranted, Seekins said.

The fire is mostly in Bear Creek Canyon and has moved toward Indian Trail Ridge and the Colorado Trail. In some places, it has backed up to the containment line on the southwest near the firefighters base camp.

The fire also is active in the canyon at the intersection of Bear Creek and Little Bear Creek. It is burning in a mosaic pattern, less in aspen groves but hotter and faster where there are downed fuels and mixed conifer. Fire behavior includes single and group tree torching, but no crown runs across the forest.

“Southwest winds have been blowing it back on itself, keeping it in the canyon and helping us out,” Seekins said. “The rains brought us seven days of improved fuel moisture, but now it is back to the very dry fuel conditions we started with.”

Burnout operations are being conducted along the fire side of the bulldozed containment line to reduce the momentum of the fire if it moves up the canyon sides toward the line, said Andy Lyon, public information officer.

Additional clearing and control lines beyond the main containment perimeter are also in place if the fire spots across, he said.

“If it gets past our containment, we have three more lines built,” Lyon said.

An unmanned aircraft system, or drone, is being deployed by certified members of the Unaweep fire crew to monitor Burro Fire behavior.

Rico and Telluride have experienced smoke in their valleys the past couple of days, but it is mostly from the 416 Fire burning high in the Hermosa Valley, Lyon said.

There is still a chance the 416 Fire and Burro Fire could merge. But Seekins said on the Burro side, there is less fuel available for it to propel it over Indian Trail Ridge, thanks to scree fields and less timber.

“On the 416 side, there is some mixed conifer all the way to the top, so it could find a lane there,” he said.

There are about 50 firefighters on the Burro Fire. More are stationed locally if needed on the Burro, or if another fire breaks out.

Areas near the Burro and 416 fires remain closed to public entry, including segments of the Colorado Trail. The Hermosa Creek Wilderness is closed.

The Dolores River is accessible between Dolores and Rico. The San Juan National Forest has reopened most trails and roads, including the shoreline of McPhee and House Creek campgrounds and the House Creek Road and boat ramp.

jmimiaga@the-journal.com

Burro Fire infrared map (PDF)