County fire crews battle several blazes in one week

Officials urging caution

Wildland fires in every corner of the county, including three in the Gunnison Valley, had fire crews scrambling late last week. According to investigators, people burning ditches or slash piles caused all of the fires, which have been contained.
Crested Butte Fire Protection District Chief Ric Ems says his crew was called into action on Wednesday, April 4 at around noon when a rancher burning ditches lost control at the Reserve on the East River.

Fresh off wildland firefighting training, the team got to work putting their skills into practice. In short order they deployed a water tender and brush trucks, along with a bladder and floating pump to douse the flames with water. Within just a few hours, the fire was under control after coming to within just 400 yards of the rancher’s home. “That one was quick,” Ems says.
Two days later, with high winds racing across the county, fire fighters were back in the field offering their assistance to fire crews from Gunnison on a fire on private land in the Ohio Creek Valley. The fire was contained after burning 69 acres and threatening two structures.
Although the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office sent out 67 calls notifying people the area would be evacuated, undersheriff Randy Barnes said no one went to the evactuation center.
The high winds were taking their toll elsewhere in the valley as an evergreen fell, taking down power lines near the southernmost crossing of the Slate River on Highway 135, disrupting service to Crested Butte South for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon, April 6. The downed power lines posed a different problem for firefighters, as they worked to keep an area of smoldering grass from turning into something worse.
By Saturday afternoon, another fire had spread from a rancher’s nearby ditch onto Strand Hill. Ems said even after fighting two fires and dealing with the power lines the previous week, about 15 volunteers showed up to work the blaze.
“They deserve a lot of credit,” Ems says. The area the fire was burning was inaccessible to vehicles and required hours of backbreaking work with hand tools. Despite being Easter weekend and the final days the ski resort would be open, the volunteers worked alone for an hour before help came from Gunnison Fire and the state and federal forest services. Then they returned in the morning to make sure the fire had been contained.
Along with the three fires and the potential of a blaze caused by the power lines, fire crews from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, Department of Corrections and Gunnison County responded to a fire taking off near Arrowhead, west of Gunnison, that burned about 125 acres. Another fire was reported north of Hwy. 133 near Somerset that brought out federal and local fire crews. By Tuesday, April 10, that fire had been contained at about 60 acres.
Gunnison Fire Marshal Dennis Spritzer said the weather isn’t looking like it will improve the fire conditions measurably in the foreseeable future. He warned people to be vigilant when setting controlled burns.
“Currently we’re not going to do any restrictions, but we are asking that people be cautious and do their burns early in the morning, before 10 o’clock, and always call Gunnison dispatch before they start and when they’re done.”
For updated information on the fire danger, people can call (970) 240-5317.