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Mato Vega fire See the photo gallery By Rich Stromberg, June 22, 2006 (Note: the author is a firefighter with La Veta Fire Protection District and is working on the Mato Vega fire.)
The fire began along Malo Vega[1] Creek, but it is not unusual for fires to be misnamed as in the South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, which was not in South Canyon, but instead on Storm King Mountain. Once a fire name is assigned, it does not change.
Current resources fighting the fire include a Type 2 incident command team from the U.S. Forest Service, many area fire departments from Alamosa, Costilla, Huerfano and Las Animas counties, Colorado Springs Fire Department, Pueblo Emergency Response and Alpine, Diamond Mountain, Redding, Sho-Pai, Lolo, and Trinity hot shot crews. Air resources include Rifle Helitack, single-engine air tankers or SEATs, a heavy slurry bomber and spotter planes. Gunnison River is a type 2, Trinity is a type 2. Silver State, Redomond, Lewis and Clark Type 1. Standing Rock fort Peck and Juniper Valley are Type 2. Cheyenne and Sho=Pai are Type 2. Chief Mtn type 1. Karl Brauneis, PIO Today trying to do burn out with east wind, but humidities too high. Tomorrow/Sunday is better. 25% RH is realy our high end. Really set down. Good work days get a lot of line constructed. Will mop up to 3 chains. Line construction just now. Some mop up done on flanks with containment. Generally 1 chain. Usually don't mop up more than two chains. Will just burn itself out. North flank is the key part to get line about.Turned the head at paradise acres to push more towards the north. A little more room. An old burn up there served as a break. To the best of knowledge has not moved onto federal land. Real concerns early on. 13,780 is latest acreage. With line construction will just continue in paradise acres. and old la veta pass road structure protection. Wagon Creek is open. US160 is open to a pilot car. Daily status on the fire can be found at http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf . Page down to the Rocky Mountain Region section. Fire danger maps can be viewed at http://www.fs.fed.us/cgi-bin/cal_disp.cgi . Click on the FD map for the desired day. Video of the days two and three of the fire can be viewed below. (File sizes range from 1.2 to 5.0 MBytes) A burn-out operation on the south side of the fire midday on Monday. Midday activity with air tanker. Extreme fire behavior Monday afternoon - 1. Tad with the Trinity Hot Shots watches the fire on Monday afternoon. Extreme fire behavior Monday afternoon - 2. Smoke hangs west of La Veta Pass on Tuesday. The fire makes a brief run on Tuesday. Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Spotter plane makes a pass over the fire. ________________________________________________________________________ [1] Both are Spanish words. Malo means bad or evil. Vega means fertile plain or field. |
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LA VETA
PASS, COLO. -- The Mato Vega fire began Sunday in Costilla
County between noon and 1 p.m. and has now grown to more than
13,000 acres as of this evening. The most extreme fire behavior
happened on Monday afternoon when the relative humidity dropped
to single digits, temperatures at the fire rose into the 80s and
winds were strong and sustained out of the southeast to
southwest. The fire made a seven-mile run on Monday.
Fire behavior on Tuesday was active, but
less severe with the burn-out line along US 160 holding for the
meantime. By the evening, the fire had reached the communication
tower ridge just west of La Veta Pass near Pass Creek Road. The
Paradise Acres subdivision with 37 homes remains threatened as
fire crews remain staged for structure protection. Other homes
in Forbes Wagon Creek and along Old La Veta Pass Road are at
risk as well. US 160 remains closed.