416 Fire Expands By 600 Acres Overnight, But Still Growing At A Slower Rate Than Before

<p><a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5822/">InciWeb</a></p>
<p>Smoke from the 416 Fire&#039;s weekend growth.</p>
Photo: 416 Fire Growth
Smoke from the 416 Fire's weekend growth.

The 416 Fire near Durango continues to grow, but at a slower pace.

The fire spread about 600 acres Sunday night and is now almost 35,000 acres in size. That growth was largely in terrain that crews say is difficult to reach.

Operations Section Chief Alex Robertson said in a Facebook update that officials are waiting for the fire to move out of the wilderness and into a road system.

"That fire growth is doing nothing but good for us right now, we need the fire to move out towards us," Robertson said. "It's not moving very fast, it's really more of a chewing production of fire behavior and we expect to see the same thing over the next day or two."

The new growth comes a week after the remnants of Hurricane Bud slowed down the 416 Fire and others.

There are currently no residences under mandatory evacuation. The San Juan National Forest remains open, and the Forest Service said on Facebook that there had been no new fire starts.