A vehicle fire and subsequent explosion caused an approximate 1-acre wildland fire off of Snowmass Creek Road on Monday afternoon. It was “knocked down” by early evening with no injuries or structure damages.
As of 5:15 p.m. Monday, hand crews were working to create a fireline around the perimeter of the fire with chainsaws and other hand tools to prevent it from spreading. Crews planned to monitor the site for hot spots overnight before declaring it contained.
A Roaring Fork Fire Rescue wildland severity team was already on patrol in the area and responded to a 2:12 p.m. call within five minutes, said RFFR Chief Scott Thompson. Aspen Fire Department personnel also responded to that initial call, according to a news release.
They found a burning van and an approximate 10-by-10-foot spot fire. While they worked to extinguish the brush fire, the vehicle exploded, sending debris up to privately owned land on the hillside.
Firefighters responded with progressive hose lines on both sides of the initial fire, surrounding it with wet vegetation. But without air support, Thompson said, controlling the fire would not have been successful.
From there, local crews called in federal support. Two single-engine air tankers, or SEATs, came from Grand Junction, as did a helitack helicopter from Rifle. The helicopter moved water from nearby Wildcat Reservoir, according to Parker Lathrop, chief deputy of operations for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re going to hopefully control it tonight, which means that we’re gonna have a hand line all the way around the fire,” Thompson said at the scene. “Then we’ll put it into mop-up for tomorrow and watch it to make sure it goes out.”
The air attack and a spotter on the other side of the canyon kept an eye on the fire’s movement and advised the ground crew when the fire appeared to be knocked down.
“When [air attack is] comfortable, that’s when we’re comfortable,” Thompson said. “He can see spot fires. He can see what the containment lines are doing.”
The SEATs arrived around 4 p.m. and soon the fire was considered “knocked down.” Hand crews moved in by 4:30 p.m. Because there are few to no fire hydrants in the area, the engines were limited in water to what they could carry in.
Thompson said he ordered more resources that he was able to cancel, including a larger air tanker and the Type 1 helicopter that was recently used in a Glenwood Springs brush fire.
RFFR Deputy Fire Marshal Brooke Stott said at the scene that her office made contact with the vehicle’s owner and nothing is suspected other than mechanical failure, though the fire is still under investigation.
If the fire marshal’s investigation concludes the fire was set intentionally, then it would be handed over to the sheriff’s office. Thompson said negligence is not considered a criminal matter in this instance.
At the scene, responders set the threshold that if the fire jumped Mesa Road, just above the initial fire, then they would move out of pre-evacuation mode and call for an evacuation of the nearby homes, Lathrop said.
Fire moves uphill and the dense mountain oak brush and serviceberries could have been good fuel, despite its green, moist appearance.
A small spot fire did light on the other side of Mesa Road, but conditions changed favorably for responders. Wind began blowing back onto the fire and the air support arrived, so crews could quickly knock down the spot fire before it spread.
“Fire can’t reburn what’s already burnt,” Lathrop said.
The region is still under a Stage 1 Fire Restriction, meaning that campfires are only allowed within designated fire grates in developed areas, smoking is only allowed in designated areas, fireworks are prohibited and more.
“We were lucky to catch this because our conditions have rapidly changed. It’s dry, it’s hot. We just urge everybody with Fourth of July coming to not have any open fires and absolutely no fireworks,” Thompson said. “We had somebody shoot fireworks last night and we’re aggressively pursuing charges against them, so we’re not fooling around.”
Thirty firefighters responded from RFFR, Aspen Fire, Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District, the White River National Forest and the Upper Colorado River Fire Interagency Management Unit, along with the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
The PitkinAlert emergency communications system announced a closure for Snowmass Creek Road at 2:47 p.m. The alert for the reopening was issued at 8:10 p.m.
Lathrop said he thought about the recent incident in northern Idaho in which a 20-year-old man started a fire and ambushed the responding firefighters with gunfire, killing two and critically injuring another, according to the Associated Press.
“We haven’t had a chance to debrief that, but we absolutely want to have a conversation,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is have a tragedy happen and have not discussed [a plan].”
