MONTROSE - Crews are battling a wildfire that has burned about 1,350 acres in barely accessible terrain northwest of Nucla.
Five smokejumpers parachuted into the area Friday to launch an initial attack on the Campbell Fire and to help protect nearby structures, said Maggie McCaffrey, fire information officer for the Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit. Information regarding the number and types of buildings the fire might threaten was not available Saturday morning.
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The fire is burning within a mile of private lands. McCaffrey said the Montrose County Sheriff's Posse has been working to notify landowners about any structures the flames might threaten.
Officials have not determined how the fire started yet, McCaffrey said. Reported around 2 p.m. Friday, the Campbell Fire is burning through pinyon/juniper and ponderosa pine stands on the Uncompahgre Plateau approximately 14 miles northwest of Nucla. Flames have spread across U.S. Bureau of Land Management property and onto some U.S. Forest Service lands.
Federal Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit personnel are fighting the wildfire, McCaffrey said. Officials planned to see how the fire behaves Saturday before deciding whether to call for a larger incident command team to take over. Firefighters expected the Campbell Fire to grow significantly Saturday.
The primary objective for Saturday was to protect private land and structures and to scrape a containment line around the fire with bulldozers, according to the Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit.
Three small single-engine air tankers dropped retardant on the Campbell Fire on Friday and returned Saturday to continue fighting the blaze, McCaffrey said. Other resources committed to the wildfire Saturday included one helicopter with an approximately 100-gallon bucket, five fire engines and crews, and three bulldozers. Officials have ordered four 20-person hand crews to help contain the fire.
"We will continue to get some assorted resources today, and they do have four crews on order," McCaffrey said Saturday morning. "So by this evening there will be additional resources."
The Campbell Fire is burning in terrain that is difficult to access, McCaffrey said. Bulldozers were able to reach the incident by following an old road.
"Primarily the (fire) engines are working around the private land and up around the upper end where they can get around it," she said.
The wildfire prompted officials to close portions of Third Park Road, otherwise known as Z26 Road, near Nucla, according to the Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit. Drivers on gravel-surfaced Highway 90 and Divide Road on the Uncompahgre Plateau might run through smoke.
Contact Russell Smyth via e-mail at
russells@montrosepress.com.
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