Editor's note: This story will be updated throughout the weekend with acreage and containment statistics. It was last updated on Monday, July 3 around 10:30 a.m.
The Spring Creek Fire didn’t grow much over the weekend, but officials are preparing for warmer, windier weather this week that could exacerbate the blaze.
Local and regional fire crews made some headway in the last week on containing the fire, which had burned about 2,900 acres just south of Parachute and Battlement Mesa as of the latest update on Monday morning.
The brush fire, which started the afternoon of June 24, was about 37% contained as of an update issued at 10 a.m. Monday morning.
"The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 2 will continue to prepare for critical fire weather conditions expected on Tuesday, July 4, including high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds," according to the Monday update. "Firefighters’ efforts include patrolling and looking for hot spots inside the fire perimeter that could again become active with strong winds."
A red flag warning will be in effect for much of Western Colorado on Tuesday, July 4 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties. No open burning is allowed during red flag warnings.
The National Weather Service has also issued a “hazardous weather outlook” for western Colorado due to dry conditions, warm weather and the possibility of lightning storms.
The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office has not issued evacuation orders for nearby communities, but several public land closures issued by the White River National Forest and Bureau of Land Management are still in place and Spring Creek and High Mesa roads are open to local traffic only.
Fire officials held a community meeting with the latest updates at the Grand Valley Fire Protection District in Parachute on Friday. The meeting was recorded and is now available to stream on the Spring Creek Fire Facebook page.
Larry Sandoval with the BLM’s Colorado River Valley field office in Silt was one of several people who spoke. While no evacuations have been ordered, he said he knows it can be scary to have a fire burning close to your community.
“I’m really sure that it’s a little bit disconcerting and concerning that you see this fire out your back door," Sandoval said. "With all that being said I believe that we have just a super talented, skilled and capable team here and I know that we’ll all be in good hands.”
The Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 2 took over management of the fire on Wednesday last week and is focused on protecting private land, structures and infrastructure, especially in the Wallace and Dry Creek areas.
According to the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit, which was in command of the fire response before the special Rocky Mountain management team took over, high-priority infrastructure in the area includes oil and gas sites.
Officials said last week there were about 440 firefighters in the air and on the ground working to control the blaze. By Monday, more than 530 crew members were involved in the fire response. Fire engines and hand crews have made progress on the western side of the fire near the intersection of County Roads 304 and 354, where incident commander Deon Steinle says the blaze started.
“Doing a lot of patrol, a lot of mop-up, going in and extinguishing any remaining hot spots,” he said in a video update posted to social media around 1 p.m. on Thursday. “This area is looking really good.”
On the northern edge of the fire, hand crews are improving a fire break and are working along Dry Creek Road to reduce dry vegetation so the fire doesn’t spread any further north.
Steinle said there is a dedicated team monitoring the area near the fire for any structures, in case the fire breaks out of its current perimeter. Crews are assessing what supplies might be necessary to properly protect those structures.
“And they’ve been working all around the fire, they’re not assigned to one particular location,” he said.
He also said crews have made heavy use of aviation resources, which provide both fire retardant and bucket drops of water from helicopters.
A temporary flight restriction is in place for unauthorized aircraft flying over the area, including unmanned aircrafts such as drones.
Residents are encouraged to register for Garfield County's emergency alerts at garco911.com. Evacuation orders will be conducted through the county sheriff's office, and residents can call a recorded message line at 970-981-3401 for current evacuation information.
Fire managers have also been posting updates on the Spring Creek Fire Facebook page and on the national wildfire tracking system, InciWeb.
This is an evolving story that was last updated at around 10:30 a.m. on Monday, July 3.
