West
Fork Complex Fire Update - Correction
Eastern Great Basin Incident
Management Team 1 – Beth Lund, 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 a.m.
– 9:00 p.m.
East Zone Email: WestForkFire.EastZone@gmail.com
West Zone Email: westforkfire@gmail.com
Monday, July 8, 2013
12:15 p.m.
Correction – Earlier update
listed Crooked Creek Subdivision as still under mandatory evacuation. It is
not. It is the Wilderness Ranch Subdivision which remains evacuated.
Special Messages: A community meeting will be held in Creede, Colorado
this Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. to give a fire update and address any
questions from citizens. It will be at
the Creede High School at 308 La Garita Street (map: http://goo.gl/maps/Dagip). With monsoon rains expected soon, there may be
an increased risk of flash flooding, debris flows and other impacts within and
downstream of the burned areas.
Residents and visitors are urged to stay aware of their surroundings
during rain events and do not drive or walk through areas that have flooded.
Current Situation
Weather (East Zone):
A drying trend will begin today and continue through at least Tuesday
with only isolated thunderstorms possible across the fire. Wind gusts from these storms can be as high as
35-40 miles per hour.
East Zone of the West
Fork Complex (Includes Papoose Fire and Eastern Part of West Fork Fires)
Crews will continue patrolling and monitoring the fire perimeter, taking
direct action when and where they can safely do so, and when needed to prevent the
fire’s spread toward homes or other values. Significant amounts of moisture fell on some
areas of the West Fork Fire Sunday, which will dampen fire activity today. However other areas received little or no rain
and with drier, and at times windier conditions predicted today and tomorrow,
firefighters have been reminded to be cautious. There are numerous spruce and aspen “snags”
across all areas of the fire – trees with weakened or burned away root systems
and they can fall at any time. At this
morning’s daily briefing Safety Officer Paul Gauchy cautioned that “those snags
are weaker today than they were yesterday, and a lot weaker than they were last
week.” It’s a reminder residents and
visitors should keep in mind when they eventually return to areas impacted by
the fire.
Papoose Fire: With
conditions drying out and gusty winds, the fire may be more active and smoke
may be visible in some areas of the Papoose fire, including the Highway 149
corridor north and west of Creede.
Eastern Part of West Fork
Fire: Substantial amounts, up to one half inch, of
rain, fell over parts of the fire Sunday which should slow the fire’s activity
today.
West Zone of West Fork
Complex (Includes Western Part of West Fork and Windy Pass Fires)
Weather (West
Zone): A stagnant and strong high
pressure over the area will slowly make westerly movement over the next couple
of days. This shift will cause change in
fire behavior: firefighters are expecting lower relative humidity and warmer
temperatures and the effects that will take on the fuels.
Firefighters will continue to patrol and monitor and are ready to respond to any new fire activity. Weather permitting, aerial monitoring will continue. The new starts that occurred on Saturday near Shaw and Bear Creek on the western side of Williams Lake Reservoir area are contained.
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.
Windy Pass Fire: Eastern side of the fire continues to hold some heat. Monitoring by air will continue today as well
as Firefighters continue to patrol and monitor the fire area.
Williams Creek Contingency Group: Firefighters
will continue structure protection, patrol and monitor for new starts.
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
Colorado Smoke Outlook, visit http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/colo_advisory.aspx
or http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/wildfire.aspx
for more information.
Evacuations and Closures: Some mandatory and pre-evacuation areas are
being lifted as of 6:00 p.m, today. Areas around the Wilderness Ranch subdivision, Red Mountain Ranch and Humphreys Lake
will remain under mandatory evacuation and the Spar City area will remain on
pre-evacuation notice. An updated map
showing the changes in status will be posted to the fire update blog and
InciWeb later today (see links below). Residents are reminded to remain
vigilant and be prepared to evacuate in the event that fire activity
changes.
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 Statistics:
Location: 14.5 miles north/northeast of Pagosa Springs, CO
Start
Date: 06/05/2013
Complex Size: 110,405 acres
Percent Contained: 19%
Windy
Pass: 1,417 acres
Cause: Lightning
Papoose: 49,056 acres
Total Personnel: 817
West Fork: 59,932 acres
Resources Include: 4 Type 1 hand crews, 8 Type 2 hand
crews, 40 engines, 2 dozers, 20 water tenders, and overhead personnel
Air Resources: 4 Type 1 helicopters,
2 Type 2 helicopters, and 4 Type 3 helicopters.
For
more information:
Twitter:
@RioGrandeUSFS | Photos: http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/WestForkComplex/library/
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