South Rim Fire now over 4,000 acres with zero containment, Black Canyon of the Gunnison remains closed

Updated at 5:17 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park remains evacuated and closed due to the South Rim Fire, which grew to nearly 4,000 acres by Monday morning and remains zero percent contained.

In an update posted Tuesday, incident commander Casey Cheesbrough said nearly 300 personnel were fighting the blaze. By Tuesday afternoon, the fire grew to more than 4,000 acres. Aircraft dropped water on one side of the fire over a five-hour period on Monday, allowing crews to build a fire line to slow the fire’s spread. Airtankers dropped retardant to further aid the suppression effort.

Lightning ignited the fire last Thursday before it rapidly expanded amid dry, warm weather. Similar storm systems lit other fires across southwest Colorado.

Fire managers plan to hold a community meeting at Grace Community Church in Montrose on Tuesday, July 15 at 6 p.m. to provide further updates and answer questions.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a disaster declaration on Sunday after lightning storms ignited multiple fires across the region. Since then, those blazes have blanketed the region with wildfire smoke, leading state forecasters to issue an air quality advisory for much of southwestern Colorado, including Grand Junction, Silverton and Lake City.

Matthew Aleksa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said afternoon thunderstorms over the last few days haven’t brought enough rain to slow the fires. Quite the opposite: gusty winds from the storms have stoked the blazes, but current forecasts suggest more substantial rainfall could arrive by Friday. 

“Unfortunately, the moisture push isn’t going to be long-lived or sustained, but it might provide some rain, enough to help,” Aleksa said.