West
Fork Complex Fire Update
Rocky Mountain Incident
Management Team- Pete Blume, Incident Commander
Central Coast Interagency
Incident Management Team 7 – Mark Nunez, Incident Commander
East Zone Phone: 719-569-4149
West Zone Phone: 970-731-2432
Hours of operation: 8:00 am –
9:00 pm
East Zone Email: WestForkFire.EastZone@gmail.com
West Zone Email: westforkfire@gmail.com
July 4, 2013
9:00 am
Special Messages: Fire Restrictions for the Rio Grande National Forest
have increased to Stage II. To find out more information, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/
or call 719-852-6271.
Stay
safe during the 4th of July holiday.
Please adhere to fire restrictions in your area, especially those
associated with fireworks.
The
Joint Information Center closed as of last evening due to call volume slowing
down. For fire information, please
contact the appropriate Zone office. For
Papoose and West Fork – East Zone, please call or email the East Zone; for
Windy Pass and West Fork – West Zone, please call or email the West Zone. Contact information listed above.
Current Situation:
East Zone of the West
Fork Complex (Includes Papoose and Eastern Part of West Fork Fires)
The strategies for operations on the fire include continuing protection
for structures and high value resources, as well as confining the fire to areas
where it will not pose a threat to local communities during the remainder of
the summer.
Papoose Fire: Yesterday, fire
activity increased in the southeast corner of Papoose, spreading in areas of
beetle-killed spruce and old logging slash.
Smoke and ash were observed in Pagosa Springs. Sustained winds at 20 miles per hour, from
the north and northwest, pushed the fire into Copper Creek, west of Red
Mountain Ranch. The fire was burning deep into the interior and was not a threat
to structures. Similar weather and
extreme fire behavior is expected again today.
As long as the fire continues to burn in these stands of dead spruce,
smoke will be more typical. Falling trees in some areas of the fire continue
to create an unsafe situation and firefighters are avoiding those areas. Burn out operations along some of the meadows
near Highway 149 is planned again today which will allow firefighters the
opportunity to even out the fire line and achieve confinement.
Eastern Part of West Fork
Fire: Firefighters
will continue chipping operations around homes where limbs and brush were
cleared so fire hazard is reduced. Firefighters
will continue fireline construction through the Elk Mountain area and monitor
areas along Highway 160 where fire remains active.
West Zone of West Fork
Complex (Includes Western Part of West Fork and Windy Pass Fires)
Incident Commander Mark Nunez Type 2 Central Coast IMT 7 assumed command
of the West Fork Fire West Zone this morning at 6:00 a.m.
Fourth of July festivities in Pagosa Springs are bringing in up to 10,000
~ 12,000 visitors over the weekend.
Please be cautious of the fire equipment traffic and come visit us at
the Town Park booth.
West Zone West Fork Fire: The West Zone
of the West Fork fire is
the portion of the fire burning south of the continental divide. Structure
protection is still in place for the Wolf Creek Ski Area, Borns Lake Cabins,
and Bruce Spruce Resort. The West Fork
Campground is open. Crews completed backhauling excess firefighting equipment
at Borns Lake, Bruce Spruce and Wolf Creek.
Windy Pass Fire: Firefighters continue to patrol and monitor the fire area. Forest Service Resource Advisor is continuing
to monitor Firefighting efforts in coordination for watershed conservation.
Weather: Isolated thunderstorms are forecasted
with winds from the northwest. Increased
moisture will slightly improve chances for wetting rains. True monsoonal moisture still appears most
likely to arrive at the end of next week, which is near average timing for
southern Colorado.
Public
Health and Safety: Smoke
monitors are in place in Pagosa Springs, Freemon’s Ranch, Creede, and South
Fork. The monitors are identified as #78
(Creede), #69 (Freemon’s Ranch), #25 (South Fork), and #65 (Pagosa
Springs). All monitors can be accessed
through the map located at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl.
Times displayed are in GMT – subtract 6 hours to get local time (MDT). For the official Colorado Smoke Outlook,
please visit http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/colo_advisory.aspx
and http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/wildfire.aspx
for further health advisory information.
Please use caution when traveling along Highways 149
and 160. Heavy fire traffic can be
expected along the highways and within the communities of South Fork, Creede,
and Del Norte. In addition, heavy
holiday traffic is expected in the same area, and including Pagosa Springs. Please do not stop along the roads to take
pictures of the fire or firefighters as doing so could impede fire operations.
Evacuations and Closures: Some communities still remain under
evacuation, others on pre-evacuation notice.
Residents are reminded to remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate at
a moment’s notice in the event that fire activity changes. Visit http://westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com/
for a list of areas currently under evacuation or pre-evacuation. The list will be updated as conditions
change.
For additional information on
road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the San Juan National
Forest go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sanjuan/alerts-notices.
For additional information on
road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the Rio Grande National
Forest go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/.
Fire Information Meetings: None scheduled at this
time.
Media Briefings: There are no scheduled media briefings.
Fire Statistics:
Location: 14.5 miles north/northeast of Pagosa Springs, CO Start
Date: 06/05/2013
Complex Size: 106,637 acres Percent Contained: 16%
Windy
Pass: 1,417 acres Cause: Lightning
Papoose: 48,652 acres Total Personnel: 1,234
West Fork: 56,568 acres
Resources Include: 7 Type 1 hand crews, 15 Type 2 hand crews, 62 engines, 3 dozers, 13 water
tenders, and overhead personnel
Air Resources: 4 Type 1 helicopters,
1 Type 2 helicopters, and 3 Type 3 helicopters.
Places
to get information:
Twitter:
@rmt1pio
Information Boards: Information is posted at the
Pagosa Springs Visitor Information Center, Freemon's Ranch near Creede, the
Forest Service office in Creede, and at the Del Norte High School.
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