{"id":16896,"date":"2025-08-16T16:54:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T16:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blue-ridge-fire-90-contained-after-rapid-start-fast-firefighter-response\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:02:07","slug":"blue-ridge-fire-90-contained-after-rapid-start-fast-firefighter-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blue-ridge-fire-90-contained-after-rapid-start-fast-firefighter-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ridge Fire 90% contained after rapid start, fast firefighter response"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=01292b92-5985-577a-aa36-dda750a86cab&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" alt=\"The Blue Ridge Fire prompted the evacuation of homes on Hilltop Drive in the Forest Lakes subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The Blue Ridge Fire prompted the evacuation of homes on Hilltop Drive in the Forest Lakes subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Only hours after the Blue Ridge Fire started on Friday afternoon, evacuation and pre-evacuation notices for 900 homes in the Forest Lakes subdivision were lifted as fire crews brought the blaze to 90% containment, according to a news release from La Plata County.<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Ridge Fire sprang to life at 1:49 p.m. Friday in the forest just to the east of the subdivision. Upper Pine Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Greg French said fire crews had a rapid response and were well-equipped to handle the blaze. As of Saturday morning, containment remained at 90% and investigators were on the scene to look into what caused the fire, he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KyP5Vivv8S4\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe worked with our mutual aid partners \u2013 Forest Service, state and also air resources,\u201d he said Saturday. \u201cCurrently, I think, (the fire is) at about 11 acres, and we\u2019re working it again this morning with our mutual aid partners, mopping up and continuing to extinguish hot spots and just trying to get after it before the weather gets bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=bdb506cc-2fc6-531f-a78f-1a4a08f4420f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" alt=\"Smoke from the Blue Ridge Fire is visible from Bayfield on Friday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Smoke from the Blue Ridge Fire is visible from Bayfield on Friday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>According to French and a news release from La Plata County, crews were able to encircle the fire with dozer, hand and hose lines, preventing it from spreading further. Now, they are working to fully extinguish it.<\/p>\n<p>French said the blaze started on private property in Unit Three of Forest Lakes, and the terrain and composition of the forest made fighting it difficult.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very difficult topography,\u201d he said. \u201cHeavily treed, lots of oak \u2013 yeah, it was pretty difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=bdb506cc-2fc6-531f-a78f-1a4a08f4420f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" alt=\"Smoke from the Blue Ridge Fire is visible from Bayfield on Friday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Smoke from the Blue Ridge Fire is visible from Bayfield on Friday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>French said multiple mutual aid partners, as well as helicopters and air tankers, responded to the blaze and assisted Los Pinos in fighting the fire. Additionally, he said, the community response helped responders get in and out quickly, and adhered to evacuation notices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very, very thankful and appreciative to our mutual aid partners in the area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really appreciate people paying attention to the evacuation notices and paying attention to directions from law enforcement and firefighters in the area, because it\u2019s a challenging spot with so many homes. The community did a good job up there, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stage 2 fire restrictions are in place as fire danger remains high and monsoons fail to appear.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about bans or for wildfire information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/9f33361d194a4af0811051b756b50238\/\" id=\"link-444937963dccc806f60e39d11e75557a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.readylaplata.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-f1a7074d1bc9e201147f3e3bb722fbbc\"><a href=\"mailto:sedmondson@durangoherald.com\">sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>put on evacuation, pre-evacuation notice in Forest Lakes subdivision Friday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,28,1953,549,1370,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-headlines","tag-los-pinos-fire-protection-district","tag-united-states-forest-service","tag-upper-pine-river-fire-protection-district","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896","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=16896"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20453,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896\/revisions\/20453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16896"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}