The Elkhorn Fire continues to burn 13 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado. Some light rain fell over the fire area yesterday afternoon moderating fire behavior for a second day. This allowed fire crews to make more progress securing fire lines and the fire is now 5% contained.
The fire began as a structure fire on private property before spreading onto the San Juan National Forest. The cause of that structure fire remains under investigation.A San Juan National Forest Incident Management team is assisting the county and managing the firefighting efforts. Firefighters have used direct tactics supported by air tankers dropping retardant and helicopters dropping water in their efforts to contain the fire.
The northern most part of the fire, in the very steep and rugged Bear Creek Canyon, continues to be a challenge but helicopters made bucket drops on Tuesday to keep the fire in check.
For the safety of firefighters and the public, fire managers on the San Juan National Forest have issued an area and road closure order in the vicinity of the Elkhorn Fire. The closure restricts public access from the Missionary Ridge area including the entirety of National Forest System (NFS) roads 682 and 077, Missionary Ridge Road, and Wallace Lake Road. For more information regarding the closure order, visit the San Juan National Forest Alerts webpage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/sanjuan/alerts
Fire Behavior & Weather:
- There is a slight chance for afternoon showers today and again tomorrow but a warming and drying trend after Thursday. A total of .02 to .04 of an inch is estimated to have fallen in the fire area Tuesday. Fire behavior has been limited to smoldering and creeping, but erratic winds associated with thunderstorms can cause new growth and higher intensity activity.
Operations on Tuesday:
- Helicopters made bucket drops in and near Bear Creek Canyon to slow the spread of fire in that area and give firefighters time to extend fire lines toward the canyon.
- Crews extended some fire line further north while continuing to secure and strengthen existing lines.
- Hose lays along the fire line were extended and improved, allowing crews to use water to “mop up” from the lines towards the interior of the fire.
Operations on Wednesday:
- Fire managers will refine plans to contain the fire at its most challenging point – the steep and rugged areas in and around Bear Creek Canyon.
- Additional resources, including a Rapid Extrication Module (REMS) team, were deployed on the fire.
- Firefighter and fire managers will continue to formulate a plan to safely extend fire lines into the increasingly steep and rugged terrain in and near Bear Creek Canyon.
- Four large “heavy” helicopters, and one smaller helicopter will again be available to support fire crews.