{"id":11599,"date":"2026-03-17T23:05:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T05:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-officials-to-host-march-24-meeting-on-wildfire-preparedness\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:32:32","slug":"county-officials-to-host-march-24-meeting-on-wildfire-preparedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-officials-to-host-march-24-meeting-on-wildfire-preparedness\/","title":{"rendered":"County officials to host March 24 meeting on wildfire preparedness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A prescribed burn in the Yellow Jacket area slowly moves through Gambel oak and mixed conifer Thursday several miles east of Bayfield and south of U.S. Highway 160. The San Juan National Forest is conducting the burns to reduce the potential for severe wildfires and improve wildlife habitat.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

With forecasts pointing to a potentially widespread wildfire season, Montezuma County officials will hold a public meeting early next week to share preparedness information and answer residents\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n

The next community information meeting is set for Tuesday, March 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the board of County Commissioner\u2019s second-floor meeting room, at 109 W. Main St.<\/p>\n

The goal of next week\u2019s meeting is to encourage residents to attend and to discuss the current fire danger across county lands and potential challenges later in the season.<\/p>\n

Public Information Officer Vicki Shaffer said the county\u2019s priority is providing information on mitigation, including controlled and agricultural burning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are encouraging people to get their agricultural burns and debris burning done early but when the conditions are right, though we have had strong winds lately,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

She said the county urges residents to create evacuation plans in advance, prepare plans for animals and livestock, put together a pack\u2011and\u2011go kit that lasts several days, and begin mitigation projects around their homes and yards to decrease burn risk.<\/p>\n

Before burning debris or brush, residents are required to call Cortez Dispatch to report it and to check the forecast for unfavorable conditions such as high winds.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall first that way dispatch isn\u2019t sending resources where they aren\u2019t needed,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

Officials cite dry conditions, regional fires, water concerns<\/div>\n

Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer, who serves on the Southwestern Water Conservation District, provided an update on Colorado River water negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been involved in some talks on the Colorado River,\u201d he said at Tuesday\u2019s commission meeting.<\/p>\n

He noted the disagreeing lower and upper basin states are in a stalemate, which appears likely to force a decision from the Bureau of Reclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can make decisions about water in the lower basin, but in the state of Colorado, I am not sure they have real authority to do that, other than pull from three reservoirs \u2026 Navajo, Flaming Gorge and Blue Mesa,\u201d he said. He added that the situation may lead to \u201cserious\u201d pending litigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just not much water period anywhere in the west right now. As we can see by all the wildfires in different states,\u201d Koppenhafer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be a good summer unless things change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Kent Lindsay agreed, mentioning that thousands of acres are burning in Nebraska near the state border, and said those fires are pulling resources from Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are out there, it is really dry and windy. Be careful for what you are doing with fire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Early fire ban possible<\/div>\n

Tuesday\u2019s meeting will include detailed information on prevention and safety, including current fire risk, presented by officials across county departments and agencies.<\/p>\n

Expected attendees include the Montezuma County commissioners, Sheriff Steve Nowlin, Emergency Manager Jim Spratlen and fire professionals from the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Both agencies are conducting prescribed burns this week.<\/p>\n

Topics include fire mitigation, risk reduction, current fire and weather conditions, home and property preparation, animal and human evacuation planning, agricultural burning regulations and creating defensible space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will probably implement our fire ban sooner than later this year just trying to get ahead of this,\u201d Commissioner Jim Candelaria said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The county also plans to hold a cleanup day, waiving tipping fees, to encourage mitigation.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, officials held a similar meeting to update residents, saying the wildfire season may come earlier this year and listing tips and resources to help residents prepare.<\/p>\n

Residents may ask questions on the topic at the meeting. To learn more about countywide fire restrictions, visit https:\/\/montezumacounty.gov\/fire\u2011restriction\u2011information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the fire season, the county shares important information on its website and Facebook page.<\/p>\n

awatson@the\u2011journal.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

raising public awareness before fire season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-11599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11599"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77040,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11599\/revisions\/77040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11599"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=11599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}