The Dolores Ranger District on Wednesday began a prescribed fire in the Boggy Draw area north of Dolores, and Fire Management Officer Matthew Traynham said Wednesday evening that the fire operations were a great success.
“We completed ignitions for a total of 1,376 acres,” he said.
Crews will remain at the site throughout the evening to ensure the burn remains controlled and contained.
At its peak, the burn had a plume of smoke that was seen for more than 30 miles.
While it was originally reported in a news release that ignitions may continue through tomorrow in a news release from the San Juan National Forest on Facebook, Traynham said they were halting the burn after tonight because of unsafe weather conditions.
“The majority of the resources out there will remain on the district through the weekend, just to help monitor and secure the burn as needed with the expected weather coming up this weekend as potential for red flag event and fire watches,” Traynham said.
An alert was also sent early Wednesday from the Montezuma County Emergency Alert System, warning of severe fire conditions.
A fire weather advisory was in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday, and a fire weather watch from Friday morning until evening.
The watch will be in effect all day Friday because of gusty winds, low relative humidity and dry fuel in fire weather zones 207 and 290, which includes Southwest Colorado.
Wind speeds are forecast to be 15 to 25 mph, with a high of 35 mph on Thursday, and 15-25 mph with a high of 50 mph on Friday. The alert asked locals to remain vigilant.
“Conditions may be favorable for easy ignition and rapid spread of fires due to low relative humidity and strong gusty winds,” the alert said.
More than 70 firefighters, a helicopter and a drone were supporting the operation Wednesday, which covers about 1,400 acres, the Forest Service said.
Boggy Draw is one of three project areas identified for “burn implementation,” according to a news release from Lorena Williams, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service. It includes 10,082 acres located 3 to 15 miles northeast of Dolores, along the Dolores-Norwood Road near Little Bean Canyon, Boggy Draw Road NFSR 527, and Cottonwood Canyon Road NFSR 532.
Other areas that will reportedly be part of the prescribed burn include Haycamp Mesa, 10,658 acres located 10 miles east of Dolores and Salter, 5,379 acres located seven to 15 miles east of Cahone.
Some forest roads and OHV trails may be temporarily closed during operations and for a period of time after the burn. Road and trail closures will be posted accordingly.
According to Traynham, several ATV and UTV roads will remain closed throughout the weekend. They are 405A, 528B, 527D and 528.1.
The priority area for this prescribed fire is in Boggy Draw near the forest boundary at Butler Corner. Firefighters will move to the north in the Boggy Draw units and then to the Haycamp area. According to the Forest Service, the Boggy Draw area is important in order to reduce risk of wildfire in the Wildland Urban Interface zone.
Reintroduction of prescribed fire is necessary to improve and restore vegetative conditions, the Forest Service said. The burns will reduce hazardous ground fuels, lessen the risk of unplanned large-scale wildfire, help restore ponderosa pine ecosystems, and improve wildlife habitat. Prescribed fire also reduces the ladder fuels that can carry fire into the canopy, killing mature trees.
During burning operations, smoke may be visible around Mancos, Dolores, Dove Creek, Cortez, and U.S. Highway 491 between Dove Creek and Pleasant View. Smoke may settle into low-lying valleys and the Dolores River Canyon overnight. Smoke monitoring will be conducted and ignitions will be scheduled to minimize smoke impacts to communities.
The Boggy Draw prescribed burn was set to take place June 1, but was canceled May 31 due to unfavorable weather conditions. For the burn on June 1, individuals who signed up in advance could tour the burn area and see how prescribed burns work. It is unclear if that was offered for today’s burn.
There will be several other prescribed burns in the area throughout the summer and fall “if weather and fuel conditions are favorable,” according to the release.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
