Photo: The Turner Gulch fire is burning on nearly 14,000 acres of land in Mesa County. (Photo courtesy Bureau of Land Management)
According to reporting on July 16 by Lauren Penington and Katie Langford in the Denver Post, five major wildfires continued to burn across Colorado’s Western Slope with minimal containment.
Firefighters managed to prevent large runs of fire growth and protected almost all buildings from damage.
The five fires — Turner Gulch, Wright Draw, Deer Creek, South Rim and Sowbelly fires — are burning on a total of about 21,000 acres in Mesa, Delta and Montrose counties, in rugged terrain that’s impossible, in some cases, for fire crews to access.
Drought conditions, dry trees, brush and grass, and high winds are making for challenging fire behaviors. The monsoon rains typical to the summer season have yet to arrive, and at this time, appear to be weeks away.
From the Denver Post story:
Mesa County’s Turner Gulch fire, which exploded in size late Monday night and early Tuesday, is burning on 13,984 acres with no containment, fire officials said Wednesday in Gateway.
The combination of extreme drought and high temperatures are similar to conditions on the deadly South Canyon fire, a 1994 wildfire near Glenwood Springs that killed 14 firefighters, said Lewis, the fire behavior analyst. Operations leaders are on high alert and are prioritizing firefighter safety, officials said Wednesday.
The Wright Draw fire, on the opposite side of Unaweep Canyon, is still burning on 448 acres, fire officials said.
The landscape around both lightning-sparked fires includes “unforgiving country” that makes it difficult or impossible for fire crews to enter or even plan around, operations section chief Travis Lipp said. There are at least 475 firefighters and other experts responding.
Fire officials are focusing on protecting homes and infrastructure and shoring up fire lines, and there may be some fire containment by Thursday, Lipp said.
Deer Creek Fire
The Deer Creek fire that started near Old La Sal, Utah, on July 10 grew to about 14,760 acres on Tuesday, July 15, and has moved into Colorado. It remained at 7% containment on Tuesday. The burn area is just north of Colorado 90 in Montrose County, near Paradox. It encompasses multiple county roads and parts of Ice Lake Creek and Lion Creek.
Eleven private structures, a U.S. Forest Service guard station and a communication site have been damaged or destroyed.
Tuesday evening, crews, engines and dozers moved into Colorado “due to an increase in fire activity and strong westerly winds that pushed the fire approximately two miles over the Utah-Colorado border to the T2 Road.”
“Difficult weather conditions are forecast to continue over the next several days with afternoon thunderstorms possible, producing erratic outflow winds with gusts up to 60 mph,” according to InciWeb. “Dozers and crews will continue constructing containment line to protect structures at risk. Unless winds become too strong, aircraft will be used in conjunction with hand crews and heavy equipment, focusing on the north and east where the fire is most active.”
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
A wildfire in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is burning on more than 4,000 acres with no containment, including most of the park’s south rim, according to fire officials. Flames have consumed about 85% of the Black Canyon’s south rim, park Superintendent Stuart West said at a community meeting Tuesday night at Grace Community Church in Montrose.
“It will look very different than when you saw it last time,” he told the crowd.
Although the visitor’s center is still standing, the fire destroyed a maintenance building and all of the park’s heavy equipment.
Abundant, extremely dry fuel sources are fueling the fire’s spread day, and night and debris rolling down the canyon is igniting areas below, sending flames rushing back up the steep slopes, officials said.
Sowbelly Fire
The Sowbelly fire is burning on more than 2,200 acres near Delta, Colorado.
Fire crews gained 13% containment on the fire, which is burning on federal land along the border of three western Colorado counties, officials said Wednesday. The fire is burning in the Dominguez-Escalante Canyon National Conservation Area, about 12 miles west of Delta near the edge of Montrose, Delta and Mesa counties.
Although the fire is mainly “creeping and smoldering,” gusty winds caused some fire torching. Scattered lightning halted somme firefighting efforts, officials said Wednesday. Fire crews are focused on keeping the fire from jumping north over ZS Road and spreading into Escalante Canyon.