A wildfire was reported about 8 miles west of Pleasant View on the northwest corner of Montezuma County Friday at 1 p.m., reaching 20 acres in two hours and prompting multiple aircraft to fly in for assistance before being knocked down.
Residents in the Cross Canyon/Squaw Point area received a pre-evacuation notice by about 2:30 p.m., according to the popular wildfire monitoring app, Watch Duty.
By the afternoon, the fire had been suppressed and personnel were monitoring the area.
As of 4:30 p.m. Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said that the fire “has been knocked down with fire crews to remain for containment and mop up for the next couple of days,” in an email to The Journal.
Based on live air traffic data from Flightaware24, The Journal identified several aircraft that provided assistance and were spotted by residents in the area: two tankers, two helicopters and one plane from Grand Junction.
Sheriff Nowlin confirmed that the tankers were from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
A population of about 26 people live within a 3-mile vicinity of the fire, according to a fire intelligence brief shared with The Journal.
Other support personnel included assistance from the U.S. Forest Service as well as firefighter resources from Lewis-Arriola and Pleasant View, Nowlin said.
Nowlin said that the fire likely started from dry lightning.
Nowlin added that three other fires in the area had all been contained earlier Friday: one on County Road 46, another at County Road 44 and one more on Groundhog Mountain in the San Juan National Forest.
The fire has been active on private property, said BLM Tres Rios Field Manager Derek Padilla.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided at the-journal.com when they become available.
