The weather has helped firefighters work farther around the fire, said Bobby Kitchens, a spokesman with the Type I Incident Management Team. The number of firefighters assigned to the blaze has decreased to about 1,000 from a high of 1,500 as efforts to contain the fire continue to progress, Kitchens said.<\/p>\n
Total acreage burned within the complex stood at 110,000 acres with 25 percent containment Monday. So far, a small pump house is the only building destroyed.<\/p>\n
Small amounts of rain fell Saturday and Sunday, enough to cool the fire but not extinguish any of it. Minimal fire growth occurred over the weekend.<\/p>\n
But last weekend may have been the best chance of precipitation until later this week, said Dennis Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to dry out over the next couple of days,\u201d Phillips said. In what he called pre-monsoon weather, a \u201cdecent push of moisture\u201d should come into the area later in the week, he said.<\/p>\n
Firefighters also worry that too much rain could trigger flooding and mudslides in the burn area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best-case scenario is that monsoons come in and it rains a little bit every day,\u201d Kitchens said.<\/p>\n
Firefighters\u2019 priority areas continue to be the areas of the West Fork Fire south of South Fork and the north end of the Papoose Fire, Kitchens said.<\/p>\n
Smoke from the fire likely will continue to linger over Southwest Colorado because of a high-pressure system causing downdraft winds, said Troy Kinghorn, another spokesman with the Type I Incident Command Team.<\/p>\n
Kinghorn, who received his information from meteorologists with the National Weather Service, said the haze will persist until a cold front moves in to lift the temperature inversion currently trapping smoke in valleys around the fire.<\/p>\n
That cold front isn\u2019t expected until next week, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost areas in all directions are experiencing haze (right now),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Information about the fires is available at http:\/\/westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com.<\/p>\n
Few lightning strike fires were reported in the region over the weekend.<\/p>\n