Officials Want Coal Creek Fire to Continue
A fire that in the Kannah Creek Watershed is still burning and fire officials say they want it to burn even longer.
The fire was sparked by lightning that hit last week but flames didn't flare up until a couple days ago. Fires from lightning that may not become active for days are called hold-over fires.
Fire crews have been watching the Coal Creek fire from on top of the grand mesa making sure it goes where they want it to.
“Because it's in this area that they would like to see some benefit to the resources, they are going to use it,” says Mel Llloy of Interagency Fire Management.
Using it means letting it burn, a special fire team arrived Wednesday to watch the fires progress but will not try to put it out unless it threatens structures.
Currently the fire has burned 300 acres.
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by Layla Location: GJ on Jul 10, 2008 at 04:51 PMIts a great thing that they are letting the fire continue to burn. Up until 100 years ago, that was the policy. Now because we fight fires so aggressively, this state has been ravaged by overgrowth in our forests and beetle kill. It's the natural way to clean our forests up. Plus, it creates the most beautiful sunsets!
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by Dawn Location: NW of Cedaredge on Jul 10, 2008 at 11:28 AMThe smoke from the fire is damaging to people and homes more than 20 miles away. I've witnessed a "controlled burn" in Mesa Verde burn over 20,000 acres in the late 1990's. The BLM won't fund fire hydrants for Coalby Canyon without an EPA inspection. But they will damage our air quality for days.
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