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Senators worry about wildfire preparedness

June 22, 2006 06:41 AM

U-S senators are questioning whether the cash-strapped federal government is ready for what's expected to be an unusually severe fire season.

Over three million acres have burned here in the West so far.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday about a recent government report that found federal, state and local agencies have no consistent policy for sharing the rapidly increasing cost of fighting wildfires.

The Government Accountability Office says that means one county can find itself unexpectedly footing a multimillion-dollar bill to pay for firefighting, while the federal government covers another county's costs.

Officials from the Forest Service and the Interior Department say they're working with state and local governments to clarify how costs should be divided.

Meanwhile, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar says he's particularly worried about the government's ability to fight and prevent fires after money to clear out trees killed by bark beetles was cut by Congress from an emergency spending bill earlier this year.

http://www.kpax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5064462

FORT GARLAND, Colo. -- The larges wildfire in the state -- the Mato Vega Fire -- has burned nearly 12,000 acres near La Veta Pass in Costilla and Huerfano counties and is only 30 percent contained.

Firefighters who are focusing on protecting homes near U.S. Highway 160 say the lower temperatures and higher humidity may help bring the wildfire under control but it's also preventing them from doing some work.

On Wednesday night, firefighters tried to take advantage of cooler, more humid weather to strengthen containment lines but the moisture made it tough.

"Things didn't go as well as planned," said fire information officer Steve Segin. "It's a double-edged sword. We were looking for higher humidities that came with this front but when we're trying to start a fire, the humidities impacted that. So, it helps lay the fire down, reduce fire behavior, but we are trying to conduct burnout operations and they were not as successful as we wanted and we were unable to secure that portion line by doing those backburns. So we got few long days ahead of us."

Segin said Thursday's plan of action is to dig fire lines along U.S Highway 160, instead of back burns, and they have a lot of lines to dig.

The fire has been burning for five days, since it was sparked by lightning on Sunday. Residents of roughly 300 houses have been ordered to evacuate, but about 70 of them are vacation homes that were empty when the fire broke out.

No homes have been lost so far and no injuries have been reported. There is concern that the hot, dry weather will return this weekend.

U.S. Highway 160 closed for the fourth day from near Fort Garland to Walsenburg.

Meanwhile, facing limited resources because of other large Western wildfires, the northern edge of the fire was being allowed to burn into wilderness because no homes were threatened.

Gov. Bill Owens toured the area on Wednesday and said the blaze should serve as a wakeup call to everyone in Colorado.

"Let's hope that this isn't the first of many fires this summer. Let's try to make sure any fires this summer aren't human-caused," Owens said.

He likened the statewide danger to the disastrous fire year of 2002, when 235 homes were destroyed.

Four Colorado National Guard helicopters are ready to help fight the blaze. Owens put them on standby alert Wednesday after he toured the fire lines. The governor also announced a fire ban on all state lands, which means no campfires and no fireworks are allowed.

On Wednesday, Colorado Springs firefighters went from house to house within Paradise Acres, the subdivision that is most threatened by the Mato Vega Fire. They removed wood piles, laying out garden hoses and leaning homeowners ladders up to roofs in case the fire spreads there.

Dragging construction debris away from one home, firefighter Jerry Montella surveyed all the wood that could be ignited by an encroaching fire.

"We would like to see a lot less than this," said Montella, among about 300 firefighters in the area.

Other Fires

Crews statewide scrambled to contain at least 20 small fires ignited by hundreds of lightning strikes from afternoon thunderstorms, said Larry Helmerick of the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.

A heavy air tanker helped crews battle a fire about six miles southwest of Sedalia and 26 miles south of Denver that grew to several acres in a few hours, Helmerick said.

Near New Castle, about 130 miles west of Denver, a wildfire of unknown origin scorched between 100 and 125 acres and threatened homes and several natural gas wells, Burning Mountains Fire Chief Brit McLin said.

The fire was about 50 percent contained by late Wednesday and no structures were damaged.

"It started out tiny, tiny and just exploded," said Jackie Gray, who lives across the river from where the fire started.

In Teller County about 60 miles south of Denver, a 44-acre fire in ponderosa pines and grass was about 75 percent contained and residents from three evacuated homes were allowed back in Wednesday.

In western Colorado, a car wreck started a wildfire that quickly grew to at least 1,660-acres and threatened some cabins and ranches in Montrose County, prompting warnings but no mandatory evacuations, fire information officer Barbara Bassler said Wednesday.

Five homes and dozens of sheds, detached garages, outhouses and other outbuildings were threatened, but no structures were burned.

The fire in the Manti-La Sal Nation al Forest, about 225 miles southwest of Denver near the Utah border, had crept to within a half-mile of the small town of Paradox, fire officials said. The town wasn't ordered evacuated.

Fire managers requested more than 250 firefighters from as far away as Salt Lake City and California, including a dozen smoke jumpers, along with air tankers or helicopters and fire engines.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9410127/detail.html