INDIAN VALLEY FIRE Location: 16 miles NW of Meeker in Rio Blanco County and Moffat County Size: 6,310 acres Cause: Lightning Containment: 80% Structures Threatened: not reported Management: approximately 294 Current numbers as of 10 a.m. Sunday LOCATION, SIZE & CAUSE RBC | Another blaze sprang up in Rio Blanco County Friday, July 20.[Read More…]
Tag: wildfire
Six fires and counting; Type 2 team assists with mop-up efforts
RBC | “It’s like a chess game,” said Incident Commander trainee Bob Klages about shuffling resources from fire to fire during an informational meeting Monday at the county’s Piceance Basin road and bridge building. Between Saturday and Monday, four fires had erupted in Rio Blanco County. Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office,[Read More…]
Wildfire near Sprague Gulch in Piceance Basin
A new fire ignited near County Road 5 and Sprague Gulch in the Piceance Basin the afternoon of Monday, July 9. Per the RBC Sheriff’s Office, the fire is on BLM land at this time. Air assets are conducting retardant drops to slow the growth. BLM, RBSO and Meeker Fire[Read More…]
Fawn Fire 1,065 acres, 100 percent contained
Photo: Rio Blanco County Road & Bridge Department The Fawn Fire was started by lightning and is currently burning on BLM and private lands near County Road 29, about 30 miles southwest of Meeker in the Piceance Basin. It has grown from 450 acres as of 6:53 p.m. Sunday[Read More…]
Wildfire closes Hwy. 40 near Maybell
High winds are contributing to a fast-growing wildfire in near Elk Springs west of Maybell. Hwy. 40 is closed and mandatory evacuations are in place for Deerlodge Park. A Type 3 fire team has been called in to fight the blaze, which is burning on BLM and private land.
Trail closures at Lost Solar lifted
MEEKER I Recent snow in the Flat Tops Wilderness has cooled much of the Lost Solar Fire, enabling the White River National Forest to lift the safety closure that has been in effect since mid-September.
El Niño not helping West’s fire situation
RBC I On May 1, a devastating blaze erupted near Fort McMurray in eastern Alberta, Canada. By late May, it had engulfed more than 1.2 million acres of boreal forest—nearly double the size of Rhode Island. At the height of the fire, which was still burning at press time, more[Read More…]
Grants available to lessen fire dangers
RBC I The Colorado Department of Natural Resources is accepting applications for a fifth round of awards under the Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant Program. This phase will provide $1 million to reduce the risk of wildfire in areas where human development and forested lands overlap, often called the wildland-urban interface.
Letter to the Editor: Thank you to fire fighters on Strawberry Creek
Dear Editor: A huge, heartfelt “thank you” goes to all those responsible for battling the Strawberry Creek Fire.
Strawberry Fire scorches 130 acres, 12 vehicles; homes saved
MEEKER I A spark from a lightning strike may have lain dormant until high winds stirred an inferno Thursday afternoon as a quickly moving, wind-pushed fire scorched 130 acres of private land and one-tenth of an acre of BLM land on its way to some heavy property damage just off[Read More…]
Fire burns west of Meeker
RBC I A Bureau of Land Management fire crew responded to the lightning-caused Blackwall Fire on Monday afternoon.
It is a mighty tough task to predict wildland forest fires
RBC I In the midst of fighting a wildfire, predicting the future is a matter of tracking invisible forces: gust fronts, storms, air columns. While firefighters battle the flames on the ground, fire experts look for signs that the weather or the wildfire might shift. They follow storm tracks, watch[Read More…]
