{"id":40370,"date":"2022-05-28T01:21:11","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T07:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pre-evacuations-lifted-as-firefighters-control-durangos-perins-peak-fire\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:55:14","slug":"pre-evacuations-lifted-as-firefighters-control-durangos-perins-peak-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pre-evacuations-lifted-as-firefighters-control-durangos-perins-peak-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-evacuations lifted as firefighters control Durango\u2019s Perins Peak Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Brian
Brian Faith, wildland coordinator with Grand Lake Fire and Rescue, pumps water on Wednesday through 6,000 feet of hose to the Perins Peak Fire and to additional lines that go around the fire as hand crews battle the blaze west of Durango. Some fire crews are staging in the Rockridge subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fire officials announced Friday that pre-evacuations have been lifted for county roads 206 and 208 as crews have controlled the Perins Peak Fire west of Durango.<\/p>\n

The pre-evacuations were dropped at noon, but they remain in place for the Rockridge subdivision.<\/p>\n

New developments Friday afternoon were few.<\/p>\n

\"A
A perimeter map of the Perins Peak Fire after the first day. The fire started about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday west of Durango and had grown to about 100 acres by nightfall. (Courtesy of InciWeb)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

About 140 firefighters, including four hot shot crews, were still engaged on the 102-acre blaze. The fire is 36% contained, but that figure will go up Friday evening after crews reassess their progress, said Lorena Williams, spokeswoman for the San Juan Type 3 Incident Management Team.<\/p>\n

Trail closures are still in effect for Overend Mountain Park, Twin Buttes and Perins State Wildlife Area, though those closures will also be reassessed Friday evening. Any changes will be announced Saturday morning, Williams said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, firefighters constructed lines around the fire and began reinforcing the \u201cheel,\u201d or northern edge, of the fire. They continued to strengthen firelines and increase containment on Friday, again concentrating their efforts on the heel of the blaze.<\/p>\n

In their \u201cmop-up\u201d operations, firefighters have been building depth into the firelines so that wind-carried embers are held within the interior of the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really focused containment efforts in the places where the wind creates the most risk,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Gambel oak brush in the fire was still smoldering Friday, and Williams said the Perins Peak Fire is still far from out. However, she applauded the quick response from firefighters that has quickly gotten the blaze under control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a combination of luck and hard work,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fire was reported late in the day and that limited the amount of burn period the fire had with the heat of the day to gather steam.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween the availability of aviation and multiple hot shot crews, we were able to just hit it with everything we had and engage immediately the next day and that led to a pretty successful outcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A red flag warning from the National Weather Service was in effect Friday and Saturday with a wind advisory Saturday afternoon that forecasts 20 to 30 mph winds with up to 50 mph gusts.<\/p>\n

Wind continues to be a cause for concern for firefighters as they attempt to put out the Perins Peak Fire, Williams said.<\/p>\n

Of equal concern is the ignition of another blaze. June is Southwest Colorado\u2019s most difficult month for fire weather, and current forecasts call for potential dry lightning, she said.<\/p>\n

Williams warned that those in Southwest Colorado need to take fire seriously and follow local fire restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in Stage 1 fire restrictions and the fire danger is very high,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the last two weeks between the Plumtaw Fire in Pagosa (Springs) and the Perins Peak Fire here in Durango we just can\u2019t take any chances. On a big holiday weekend with conditions the way they are, people should be more cautious than they\u2019ve been in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

ahannon@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

206 and 208 are no longer under notice; crews secure northern edge of blaze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[950,1480,350,28,1866,3264,199,195,549,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-fire","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-perins-peak","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-u-s-bureau-of-land-management","tag-united-states-forest-service","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40370","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=40370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84626,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40370\/revisions\/84626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40370"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}