Firefighters responded to an agricultural burn that went out of control Thursday along County Road 203 north of Durango as a result of wind and dry vegetation.
Durango Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said a man was performing what’s called a broadcast burn, or burning an open field, when the flames were amplified by dry vegetation and seasonal winds that have been sweeping the region.
It wasn’t the first controlled burn to go out of control this spring.
Late last week, firefighters responded to a fire that was started by a family that is new to the area and attempted a controlled burn on a ranch they had just bought, Hanks said.
“They burned starting at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then we had fire across multiple properties,” she said. “Based on the wind again.”
Winds were forecast to reach around 20 mph on Thursday after gusts up to 40 mph that were recorded Wednesday at Durango-La Plata County Airport. The bursts are a result of seasonal changes as warmer and cooler weather systems meet, said meteorologist Lucas Boyer with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
“What we have is a low-pressure system centered over the Great Lakes and a ridge of high pressure over the West Coast,” he said.
The combination of a building high and a deepening low, separated by a northerly jet stream digging southward, can cause the northerly winds experienced Wednesday and Thursday across Southwest Colorado, he said.
Hanks said most people who find themselves troubled with an out-of-control field fire don’t have 200 to 300 gallons of water with them. Most likely, they have at most a shovel and possibly a tractor. She said people new to the area or who have never attempted a controlled burn and are considering it should reach out to their local fire jurisdiction.
She said fire district staff members are glad to help with training and education to prevent burns from getting out of control.
For people who don’t live on agriculture-classed land, reaching out to the fire district isn’t just recommended – it’s required, she said.
“For the small burns, people need to please remember that they’re supposed to get a permit from their local fire jurisdiction unless they are listed as agricultural land by the tax assessor,” Hanks said.
The permits aren’t just for permitting’s sake, she said. They are part of the process that provides people with education and training about how and when to safely burn.
“We are at the point where spring green-up is starting to happen,” she said.
Even so, Hanks said there is still a significant amount of vegetation that hasn’t greened up yet in addition to dead plant materials from previous years.
Significantly dry conditions, limited moisture and high afternoon winds can ignite any small fire and spin it out of control.
“We’ve been in a drought for a number of years,” she said. “We’re not going to recover quickly, and traditional burning methods, times of burning and amount of burning has changed over the years and we need to take that into account.”
Those considering a burn should carry it out in the mornings and call it quits by 10 or 11 a.m., she said. Don’t attempt a burn in the afternoon during windy conditions.
Winds as experienced Wednesday and Thursday are thermally driven, Boyer said, and commonly die down after sunset.
More wind gusts are forecast for Sunday, largely driven by a system blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. That storm will cause a southwesterly wind, which is often typical for the region. Winds coming in Sunday are expected to last through Monday afternoon.
“The big picture for all of this is that we’re in our spring transition where we’re starting to pick up our warmer air masses while we’re getting the remnants of colder air masses dropping down,” Boyer said.
Herald Staff Writer Nicholas Johnson contributed to this report.
cburney@durangoherald.com
