Firefighters hope for weather change

DEL NORTE, Colo. – Crews defending small homes, a ski area and a handful of roads against an erratic wildfire in Colorado’s southwest mountains hoped Monday for a break – any break – in the weather that will allow them to launch a more strategic assault on the backcountry blaze.

The West Fork Fire likely will burn for months, Incident Commander Pete Blume said. And crews are not expecting to make any real gains against the 117-square-mile burn until the summer monsoon season brings cooler temperatures and rains, hopefully in early July.

“This is a significant fire with significant problems, and we are not going to see any significant containment until we have significant changes in the weather,” said Blume, who is with the Rocky Mountain Type I Incident Command.

The fire is feeding on beetle-killed trees and is fanned by hot, windy weather. Those conditions were expected to continue across much of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, where a 119-square-mile wildfire in the mountains of Gila National Forest is expected to grow this week.

Some 900 firefighters with a variety of aircraft were in southwestern Colorado, and more were arriving. But so far they have been in an almost completely defensive mode, waiting for the 30- to 40-mph afternoon winds that have grounded aircraft and driven flames to subside.

The fire’s price tag has topped $2.2 million, and the effort has just begun.

More than 1,000 residents and visitors left homes, cabins and RV parks in South Fork and surrounding areas Friday. As of Monday, no structures were known to have been lost.