As monsoons skip over Southwest Colorado and numerous wildfires are reported in the beginning of August, Stage 2 fire restrictions and a red flag warning are issued for the region.
Mesa Verde National Park and Yucca House National Monument, along with the BLM Tres Rios Field Office and the Southern Ute Reservation, each announced Stage 2 restrictions for Friday.
The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation has had such restrictions in place since Thursday. Dolores County got them Aug. 1
The San Juan National Forest, where the Stoner Mesa Fire burns at over 1,100 acres through spruce and conifer brush, also implemented Stage 2 restrictions starting Friday.
The heavy rains of monsoons, however aren’t here. High pressure conditions have thwarted the rainfall usually expected for this time of year, said local weather expert Jim Andrus.
“There’s been 0.2 inches total for the month of August, which is supposed to be the heart of the monsoon season for us,” he said.
Hot, windy conditions are keeping the Stoner Mesa Fire, first reported on July 28, alive and well, enabling the flames to roar about 20 miles northeast of Dolores as of Friday afternoon.
Personnel are addressing the fire using an indirect approach, digging fire lines further out from the flames and forgoing the use of aerial flame retardant, said Lorena Williams, a public information officer for San Juan Team 8. The group is listed as a local Type 3 Incident Management Team.
“When extreme fire behavior is at play we can’t get firefighters on the ground,” she said.
Firefighter safety is a priority for teams addressing the flames, like the San Juan Interagency Hotshot Crew.
Because of such dry conditions, retardant wouldn’t be effective either, Williams said.
“The public might be looking, going ‘Why don’t I see air tankers?’ But that’s not the correct fire suppression strategy at this time,” she said.
Williams said some flames could climb trees and grow to an estimated 200 feet.
The fire is anticipated to grow in an east and northeast direction and make its presence known over a wide area, according to a U.S. Forest Service news release.
“Smoke will be visible throughout Southwest Colorado, and will impact local communities at night as it settles into river corridors and valley bottoms including Highway 145, County Road 38, Dolores, Rico, Telluride and Silverton,” the release said.
The fire has resulted in evacuations of the Mavreeso Campground and Taylor Mesa and Stoner Mesa roads.
Multiple roads and trails in the regions are closed because of the fire, Forest Service postings show.
More resources are incoming, Williams said, including engines, hand crews, helitech crews and drones used for infrared detection.
“We have some of all of that and we’re getting more,” she said.
With fire resources in demand nationwide, a wish list of aid might take some time to arrive, Williams said.
“The Stoner Mesa Fire is going to be with us for a while,” Dolores District Ranger Nicholas Mustoe said on Wednesday.
Fires on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation, contrasted to the Stoner Mesa Fire with differing factors such as terrain and fuel levels, have not grown at the same pace.
The Waters Canyon Fire, first identified Aug. 2 on the border of Mesa Verde National Park, has grown slowly to just over 200 acres, but has been significantly thwarted by a Type 3 Bureau of Indian Affairs team.
The fire was reported as 15% contained on Thursday, according to a news release.
Helicopter water bucket drops have helped suppress the flames, said Gerald Whited, a public safety director for the Ute Mountain Ute tribe.
A small fire that broke out on Ute Mountain on Thursday was suppressed before it managed to expand past half an acre. Whited said that the fire was now entirely in a mop up stage.
Bailey Duran, a reporter for The Journal, contributed to this article.
