Dry conditions and another expected day of high winds led area fire chiefs to extend the ban on outside burning through today.
“We’re expecting another day with winds of 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph,” Durango Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said. “It’s just not worth the risk.”
She said all four chiefs in La Plata County – Durango, Fort Lewis Mesa, Upper Pine and Los Pinos fire districts – agreed on continuing the ban for at least one more day.
“We’re going day by day because there are still wind predictions for Wednesday,” she said. “But we all know that weather in the mountains is not 100 percent predictable, so we’ll re-evaluate again (tonight).”
DFPD responded to a grass fire Saturday on Rainbow Road that burned 17.9 acres, she said.
“It started as a controlled burn with a man burning his ditches,” she said. “It’s just so dry, it ran faster than he thought it would. It burned across his neighbor’s fields and across that neighbor’s fields. We were lucky it was on Saturday and not Sunday.”
Upper Pine River Fire Protection District responded to two fires Sunday, one begun by a stray ember from a bonfire on County Road 504, the other a controlled burn on County Road 509.
“People think their fires are completely out, and they’re not,” Hanks said. “All it takes is one stray ember and then it spreads so much quicker than we’re used to it doing. We just don’t have the moisture we’re used to having at this time of year.”
There is a slight chance of moisture Wednesday night going into Thursday at Durango’s elevation.
“There is a chance, but I don’t think it’s likely,” said Jeff Colton, a meteorologist with the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service. “Every new computer run just gets drier and drier every time.”
He said a high pressure ridge coming in after that front will probably calm the winds down at least some.
“But it’s probably going to be warmer and even drier in your area,” he said.
The mountains may see some moisture from this storm front, so the last weekend of skiing at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, which reopens Friday for three days, may include some fresh powder. A second storm front coming in over the weekend is more likely to hit the northern and central mountains of Colorado, Colton said.
“There is some hope from a storm forming off California that’s about 10 days out,” he said. “We’ll know more when it gets closer.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
For updates
To get the latest information on burning bans, Durango Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Karola Hanks recommends residents follow the Twitter account @DurangoFire.
