The Ferris Fire about 15 miles northwest of Dolores grew to roughly 23,300 acres as of Wednesday morning after strong winds the day prior.
In various fire locations, officials and fire crews are performing around-the-clock suppression work, full nights and days, with strategic and tactical plans shifting daily.
Officials said they are seeing progress in some areas as firefighters build containment lines while closely watching other areas – especially where steep terrain limits suppression capability and poses overall concern for firefighter safety.
The biggest shift of the fire is its northwest side. The fire has established in Doe Canyon and moves toward Dolores River Canyon, a remote river canyon managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This area is the furthest from Dolores township but is showing to be a complex hurdle.
San Juan National Forest spokesperson Lorena Williams said the area has been named Division Charlie or C, and fire managers were developing a strategy to build indirect containment Wednesday. Alongside agencies like the sheriff's departments, emergency managers, and BLM, San Juan Team 8 officials are developing contingency plans in case the fire moves to Dolores River Canyon.
“It's too dangerous to put firefighters down in a canyon,” Williams said. “Fires are known (to) blow up and out of canyons and we are not willing to risk firefighters’ lives.”
While the fire’s northwest side proves challenging, the top priority of the Dolores Ranger District remains the same since the wildfires ignited, which is protecting and mitigating the northeast and eastern sides near private lands in the Glade Ranch subdivision, or Division K.
Other at-risk priorities include the Benchmark Lookout Tower on the north end.
The Arroyo Grande Hotshots played a crucial part in helping suppression Tuesday, digging hand lines in oak brush on the northeastern Divisions K and Z while three heavy helicopters flew for seven to eight hours and dropped a total of 50,000 gallons of water.
There were also 20 large air tanker drops of retardant and single-engine air tankers delivering six loads of retardant.
Tuesday night’s crew completed burnout operations on multiple divisions of the fire, aiming to bridge a gap between roads and the fire’s main body to use the infrastructure as a fire line.
“The Arroyo Grande Hotshots are there again today continuing their fire line, and it's looking really good. They're making great progress,” Williams said.
The bulk of the work involves building a hose lay to supply water to bolster containment.
Wednesday’s morning briefing took place at the new Salter Y Spike Camp, the fire’s logistical campgrounds, which is fully running and reduces drive time.
Overall, Williams said since the three wildfires started Saturday and merged over the weekend, containment has been challenging.
“It's challenging. It is challenging,” Williams said. “We’re making really good progress in Division Kilo (K) and Division Zulu (Z) and we're really confident, barring a weather event, that we can continue capitalizing on the progress we've made in prior days.”
The fire remains at 0% containment; personnel includes a crew of over 250 firefighters along with different helicopter types.
Weather continues to be a factor. Wind is reducing in coming days, but currently rising temperatures appear to be in play, risking what fire officials call “plume-dominated behavior” where strong convection creates its own risky weather.
“The other fires in the general Four Corners region are blowing up and the reason ours is not blowing up is that we have not had alignment with wind and terrain,” Williams said.
She said the reason there hasn’t been a dramatic increase in acreage is because of the terrain and where the fire is situated. However, higher temperatures still create high risk. Fire activity remains active throughout the night amid low humidity.
Multiple homes and private lands in Dolores and Montezuma counties are still under evacuation orders. Current evacuation information may be found on Dolores County Office of Emergency Management Facebook page.
The San Juan National Forest has implemented a Fire Area Closure.
awatson@the-journal.com
