By Erin Emery
The Denver Post
Copyright 2006 The Denver Post
All Rights Reserved
A fire burning in southern Colorado doubled in size to almost 9,000 acres Tuesday as high temperatures and steady winds kept fire crews scrambling across the state.
“We can’t get out in front of this thing; it’s moving like a freight train,” information officer Steve Segin said of the Mato Vega fire, which raged east of Alamosa and was about 5 percent contained as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Segin said 283 homes on Old La Veta Pass and the Paradise Acres and Wagon Creek subdivisions had been ordered to evacuate.
“We haven’t had any homes burned, but there is concern about the threat it poses to the Paradise Acres subdivision,” said Karl Brauneis, a spokesman with the Rocky Mountain Incident Command Team.
Unlike Monday, when the blaze raged all night, the fire did “lay down” Tuesday night, giving firefighters a breather, Brauneis said.
Most of the threatened homes are vacation properties, so few residents have actually had to pack up and go, said Anneke Uijterschout, manager in the Wagon Creek subdivision.
U.S. 160 - the main east-west route in the region - will remain closed for a third day between Fort Garland and La Veta today as crews work to keep the the fire from crossing south of the highway.
Veronica Garcia, who works at the Phillips 66 in Fort Garland, said a huge smoke plume visible from her window looked “more like an explosion cloud … than a fire.”
Customers came in throughout the day Tuesday, she said, asking when the highway was going to reopen. “I tell them until further notice, we just don’t know,” she said.
People driving between Interstate 25 and Colorado’s San Luis Valley are advised to use U.S. 50 between Pueblo and Salida or U.S. 64 in New Mexico.
By noon Tuesday, the Mato Vega fire had burned an estimated 8,926 acres mixed with conifers, ponderosa pine and sage grasses. Late Tuesday, the size was put at 8,960 acres.
“I think we came out pretty good today. It didn’t make a 7-mile run again today,” said Brauneis.
“It’s the most extreme fire they’ve had in this part of the country in a while,” Segin said.
More than 300 firefighters, four single-engine air tankers and two helicopters worked to contain the fire Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the state:
A fire that started after a rollover accident Tuesday came within a mile of Paradox, a small town about 50 miles southwest of Grand Junction.
The Lion Creek fire was reported to be more than 1,500 acres as of 11 p.m., with smoke visible from Moab, Utah.
About 17 engines, at least one hotshot crew and 12 smokejumpers were expected to be on scene Tuesday night, said Murray Shoemaker, fire information officer with the Manti-La Sal National Forest.
“Structural protection is in place, and defensible space around those structures is deemed to be good,” he said.
In Teller County, a heavy air assault was launched Tuesday morning on the Wrights fire, which burned about 45 acres of ponderosa pine and grass 6 miles northwest of Cripple Creek.
One heavy air tanker and four single-engine air tankers were on the scene, said Larry Helmerick, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
“We’re throwing a lot of air power at it and are watching it closely,” he said.
In addition, 65 firefighters, including hand crews and engines from local departments, fought the fire from the ground.
That blaze was 25 percent contained Tuesday evening, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said. Three homes were evacuated.
In Larimer County, a single-engine tanker, a helicopter and about 35 fire crews had the 50-
acre Halligan Reservoir fire burning near Virginia Dale 100 percent contained Tuesday, and they expected to have it under control today.
The Copper Creek fire in Grand County, which burned 10 acres Monday, was largely knocked down by Tuesday morning, Helmerick said.
Sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 58 mph fanned the flames and limited the air assault Monday afternoon as the Mato Vega fire grew from about 400 to more than 4,000 acres, Brauneis said.
Similar conditions persisted Tuesday afternoon, and the forecast calls for more of the same today.
Kevin Seefeld, a chef on the 350,000-acre Forbes Ranch, said, “I just want the wind to die down. It takes these coals and blows them around.”
Seefeld said a dry winter and little spring rain have residents of the area on edge.
Uijterschout, the subdivision manager, was among the first to see the fire Sunday afternoon.
“The first day, we didn’t think it was bad - it seemed like a small fire. The second day, we got real scared,” she said.
Mato Vega fire
Size: 8,960 acres
Containment: 5 percent
Location: About 12 miles northeast of Fort Garland
Cause: Lightning
Evacuations: 283 homes
Closed: U.S. 160 between La Veta and Fort Garland
Air power: Four single-engine air tankers, two helicopters
Ground: More than 300 firefighters
Cost to date: $350,000