Read about the Turner Gulch fire here | Read about the South Rim fire here
High winds and dry, hot weather continue to fuel multiple fires in southwest Colorado on Tuesday, challenging fire crews and prompting evacuations.
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.
Sowbelly fire
The Sowbelly Fire ignited last Thursday in the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, a remote canyon landscape managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Fire officials reported the uncontained blaze reached 2,274 acres by Tuesday afternoon. It’s currently smoldering and not dramatically growing, but nearly 50 firefighters are monitoring the blaze to keep it from further spreading into the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.
Deer Creek fire
The Deer Creek Fire started near Moab last Thursday. It had already burned more than 10,000 acres before it spread into Colorado on Monday, just north of State Highway 90 in Montrose County, according to fire officials. It’s now estimated to cover 12,906 acres.
The fire is now 8 percent contained as crews use bulldozers to slow the spread. Five helicopters are assisting more than 380 personnel to contain the fire amid continued high winds, but fire officials say forecasts suggest some rain could provide relief on Friday.
