Buffalo Peaks Weston Pass Fire

Weston Pass Fire
1 hr ago

July 13, 2018 Update
#westonpassfire

Weather
Today will be mostly sunny in the morning with isolated showers and thunderstorms beginning around 12:00 PM becoming mostly cloudy with a few scattered thunderstorms after 1:00 PM. High temperatures will range from 68°-74° with minimum low humidity of 30-36%. Winds out of the east 7-13 mph with gusts to 17 mph. Winds near thunderstorms will be gusty and erratic, with gusts up to 25 mph. Tonight will bring minimum temperatures of 49°-54°, a relative humidity of 70-75% and a 10% chance of wetting rain.

Current Situation
Fire behavior is expected be very limited today. The primary source of remaining heat on the fire is heavy surface fuels and stump holes. Visible smokes from within the interior of the fire will continue especially when the sun is warming the fuels and the humidity is lower. Fire personnel will continue monitoring fire behavior with lookouts and aircraft. As our objectives near completion, fire personnel and equipment are gradually being released. Tomorrow at 6:00 AM the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team, IC Todd Pechota, will turn over responsibility for the Weston Pass Fire to a local Type 3 Organization lead by IC Steve Reed, ADFMO, from Pike and San Isabel NF.

On the north side firefighters continue to patrol the fireline. Crews will secure and hold the perimeter on the east side along HWY 285. Division P will secure fire perimeter from FS 168 west to Buffalo Peaks Wilderness (BPW) boundary. Hotshot crews continue to work hotspots directly and by coordinating helicopter bucket drops in and near the BPW. Contingency lines and structure protection on the south of the fire are complete; Division T is unstaffed. Hotshot crews will hold and secure fireline from FS 433 to the BPW. Hotshot crews continue working in and near the BPW to identify and extinguish hotspots directly and with helicopter water drops. In this rough, steep, terrain with heavy fuels, firefighters are constantly weighing the risk to fire fighters versus the benefit of engagement. To mitigate this situation, medical supplies have been staged in this area and medical personnel are on location. Containment percentage of the fire increased along the dozer line between Division A and Z yesterday. Today, crews will continue to patrol that line. Structure Protection removed all fire equipment around Campground of the Rockies (CORA).

Closures and Public Safety
Closures remain in effect in the Pike National Forest including the lands south of CR22, north of Trout Creek Pass, the entire BPW, and west of HWY 285. Please visit www.fs.usda.gov/psicc for more information. CR 22 is open to the public. All mandatory evacuations are lifted. CR22 [Black Mountain area] and CORA are on pre-evacuation status. Visit www.parkco.us for up to date information. The speed limit on Highway 285 is posted at 50 mph; there is no stopping in the fire area.

Fire Statistics:
Location: 9 miles south of Fairplay, CO
Percent Contained: 83%
Start Date: June 28, 2018
Total Personnel: Approximately 425
Size: 13,023 acres
Cause: Lightning
Resources Include: Three Type 1 hand crews, 6 Type 2 hand crews, 9 engines, one masticator, 2 dozers
Helicopters: One Type 1, one Type 3

Weston Pass Fire Information
719-966-7842
Call Center Hours: 8 AM - 8 PM
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Incident Information: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5876/
Social Media: www.facebook.com/westonpassfire/

Weston Pass Fire
1 hr ago
The Type 1 IMT transferred command of the Weston Pass Fire to a local Type 3 IMT at 6 am today. The sun will warm and dry the fuels so you may see some smoke that is within the fireline. This is to be expected and fire managers will be monitoring the smokes. Please be vigilant as fire traffic enters the highway. The engines are heavy and they need a little more time and space to merge. The fire containment is 93%!

The last of the supplies are getting loaded in the trailer as the Type 1 IMT finishes tearing down camp. This is a group photo of one of the amazing crews helping in supply.

Weston Pass Fire
2 hrs ago
The Occupancy and Use Restrictions for the Weston Pass Fire and surrounding area have been changed by the USFS! See the attached Forest Order #PSICC-2018-37.

Weston Pass Fire
1 hr ago

This may be the last post on this FB page.

Weston Pass Fire is still at 93% containment. The other 7% is in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness, (BPW). The BPW part of the fire is now being handled with confinement suppression strategies. This includes bucket drops, firefighters working directly on hotspots, using topographic features, and weather. This decision was made by fire managers to limit the exposure and risk to firefighters and because the scattered hotspots make it impossible to draw a containment line. Residents can expect to see interior smoke all summer. Firefighters will continue patrolling the area.

Helpful sources of information:

Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands for closure updates look at the left column for “Alerts & Notices”: www.fs.usda.gov/main/psicc/hom

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Twitter:@PSICC_NF

PSICC blog for new fires:
psiccfireinfo.blogspot.com/2018/07/

Road information
www.codot.gov

Incident information: 719-299-1567

Weston Pass Fire
2 hrs ago

#westonpassfire
An update from Mike Hessler, Fire Management Division Chief, South Park RD:
"Crews continue to patrol the Weston Pass Fire and rehab dozer lines and other suppression impacts. Currently, there is a dozer and two tracked excavators as well as an engine and small handcrew working in the burn area. Completion of suppression repair is estimated to take five more days depending on weather. Bad weather has been driving crews out of the burn at least once a day. The burn area has received approximately an inch and a half of rain in the last ten days and no visible smokes have been found in the last week. The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessment identifying risks to people, infrastructure, and resources as well as techniques to reduce potential safety concerns and negative impacts is completed. It will be submitted for funding in the next several days. The burn area itself and National Forest lands immediately adjacent to it are currently closed for fire operations and public safety. Currently there is no estimate of when the area will be opened."