Middle Fork Fire

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Middle Fork Fire Fact Sheet                                                                                                         9/30/2020  
Acres: 8,037                                                                                         Incident Commander: Sean Carey, Type 3 IMT
Fire Information phone line: 970-439-4725                           Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7153/

Today’s Situation: The Middle Fork Fire continues to creep and smolder along the fire perimeter burning small pockets of available fuels. With forecasted sunny and warm, drier weather in the coming days, increasing fire activity can be expected, especially when winds align with fuels and terrain throughout the day. The Middle Fork Fire is zero percent contained as we are in its fourth week. Cold trailing, or ensuring the perimeter wont reignite via touching/digging out every live fire spot to determine containment of the fire line in the Wilderness is dangerous, thus the fire is likely to smolder until extinguished by snow accumulation. A portion of the eastern fire perimeter has not advanced for over two weeks. Full suppression tactics employed include using helicopters to keep fire growth in check and identifying indirect control features that offer a higher probability of success should fire advance toward communities or other values at risk. Visitors are reminded to avoid entering the area closure for their own safety and the safety of the firefighters (see Forest Closure below). Fire managers and the National Forest regularly evaluate the extent of the area closure and will adjust it to reduce impacts to public land users when they are confident it is safe to do so.

Weather: Sunny skies with highs between 66-71 degrees and relative humidity of 12 - 17%. Winds are out of the west to northwest at 10-15 mph, gusting to 20 mph this afternoon and early evening. Clear night skies with lows between 35-40 and relative humidity of 41-46%.

Fire Behavior: Minimal to moderate with creeping, backing, smoldering, and isolated/group torching events.

Firefighting Resources: Approximately 95 personnel are assigned to the fire, including four helicopters (two Type 1 and two Type 3) and a fixed-wing air attack to help coordinate aerial operations.

Evacuations: There are no evacuation or pre-evacuation orders in effect. If the fire were to reach any pre-identified management action points, it would trigger Routt County Sheriff’s Office to initiate pre-evacuation orders through their reverse-911 system. To sign up for alerts, visit http://routtcountyalerts.com. The county provides tips for wildfire preparedness, including planning for pets and livestock, on their website at http://www.co.routt.co.us/309/Fire-Safety-Tips-for-Rural-Residents.

Forest Closure: Routt National Forest has issued an area closure. The closure boundary follows Mount Zirkel Wilderness boundary on east. On the south it follows Trail 1132 (Newcomb Creek), Trail 1101 (CDNST), the Wilderness boundary, and Trails 1100 (Swamp Park), 1140 (Saddle), 1140.1A (Saddle Cut-off), and 1171 (Red Dirt). On the west it follows the boundary between National Forest and private lands east of Big Creek from Red Dirt Trailhead to Trail 1176 (Roaring Fork) and continues north along the Wilderness boundary. On the north it follows the North Fork Drainage up to The Dome, east to Lost Ranger Peak, CDNST, and Trail 1131 (Lost Ranger). Trails 1131, 1132, 1166, and 1140 are open. Portion of Trails 1100 and 1171 are open where they follow the closure boundary, closed where they enter the closed area. No roads or trailheads are closed.

Closed trails include:

·          Appx. 10 miles of CDNST from 1132 to 1131

·          1130 Rainbow Lake

·          1179 Roxy Ann Lake

·          1099 Ditch Creek

·          1100 and 1100.4A Swamp Park (within Wilderness Area only)

·          1118 Elk Park

·          1168 Luna Lake

·          1168.1 Fish Hawk Lake

·          1170 Chilton

·          1182 Crags

·          1184 Big Creek Lake

·          1171 Red Dirt past Trail 1140 intersection

Fire Restrictions: Stage 2 Fire Restrictions are in effect in Routt and Jackson counties, on all of the Routt National Forest, and across much of Northwest Colorado.