Current Situation
At 6 p.m. today the Great Basin Incident Management Team 1 will hand off responsibility to manage the Papoose and West Fork Fires to Phil Daniel’s Colorado Type 3 Incident Management Team. The complex will remained staffed with adequate resources to patrol and monitor the status of the two fires as well as serve as an Initial Attack (IA) force should the need arise.The Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR) are scheduled to be lifted at 6 p.m today.
An interagency Burn Area Emergency Response (BAER) team will be arriving tomorrow to begin their initial assessments. The goal of a BAER team is to assess the after effects of a fire(s) and develop a strategy for emergency stabilization and rehabilitation. Everything from erosion protection to what needs to be done to make trails, roads and campgrounds safe for people to re-enter damaged sections of the forests.
Public Health and Safety
You can expect to see smoke across parts of the fire for the next several days to weeks. The rains and monsoon associated winds have gone a long way towards clearing the air. For the Colorado Smoke Outlook, visit http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/colo_advisory.aspx or http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/wildfire.aspx for more information.Area Road and Trail Closures
For information on road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the San Juan National Forest go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sanjuan/alerts-notices.For information on road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the Rio Grande National Forest go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/.
Fire Statistics
Location: 14.5 miles north/northeast of Pagosa Springs, COStart Date: 06/05/2013
Complex Size: 109,615 acres
Windy Pass: 1,417 acres
Papoose: 49,628 acres
West Fork: 58,570 acres
Total Personnel: 495
Cause: Lightning
Percent Contained: 66%
Resources Include: 1 Type-1 hand crew, 1 Type-2 hand crew, 14 engines, 2 water tenders, and 136 overhead personnel.
Air Resources: 2 Type 3-helicopters.
Information Traplines: The information traplines have been discontinued. The information updates and maps will continue to be available on InciWeb and the incident blogspot. Beth Lund’s Great Basin IMT 1 would like to thank all of the communities, businesses and agencies for their kind support of our firefighters. Additionally we would like to extend our thanks to all of the local businesses and agencies for assisting us in sharing the changing status of this incident with the visitors and residents of this beautiful area.
For more information
Blog: http://westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com/ | Website: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3436/Twitter: @RioGrandeUSFS | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreatBasin
Photos: http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/WestForkComplex/library/
Information provided by:
Great Basin Incident Management Team 1 – Beth Lund, Incident CommanderFire Information Phone: 719-569-4149* (as of Sunday, 7-14 this number goes to voice mail only. Calls will be returned as quickly as possible. A new telephone number for fire information will be established and announced shortly.)
Hours of operation: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Email: WestForkFire.EastZone@gmail.com
