The 416 Fire has burned 32,959 acres and was 20 percent contained as of Friday night. The chance of moisture this weekend creates a lot of possibilities, said Bethany Urban, spokeswoman with the incident command team fighting the fire. Though rain could help calm the fire, officials are concerned dry lightning and increased gusts of winds could create new complications. Fire officials will monitor the impact of flooding when deciding where to place firefighters in the days ahead, said incident commander Todd Pechota.<\/p>\n
Wildfires burn the soil along with the trees. When it rains, the water doesn\u2019t seep directly into the ground. Instead, it runs down the canyons, collecting ash, dirt and other sediment along the way. The runoff flows until it reaches flatter land.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you introduce fire into a forest scenario, you completely alter the storm runoff characteristics of all the small basins and larger basins,\u201d Knowlton said. \u201cVery simply put, all of that ash, all of that material now that\u2019s been exposed by the fire has to come down those canyons. All of those little ravines, all those little canyons, all that debris has to come down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evacuation orders were lifted Friday for 761 residences and 94 businesses. Significant flooding could lead to new evacuations, Knowlton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just going to be too dangerous for people to stay in their homes, especially at night,\u201d Knowlton said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably going to be doing additional evacuations for people so they can get out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The floods after the Missionary Ridge Fire were a lesson in what can occur. The county\u2019s Road and Bridge Department can move equipment to help affected residents. The La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office spent Friday preparing for the flood, and swiftwater rescues personnel will be on standby.<\/p>\n The Colorado Department of Transportation also is on standby because flooding will likely alter U.S. Highway 550 and county roads, Knowlton said. He is particularly concerned with two stretches of the highway \u2013 one north of Bakers Bridge and one north of Honeyville.<\/p>\n Officials have been communicating among themselves and with residents about how to respond to possible flooding. The county\u2019s Office of Emergency Management is using the same weather resources used by the Type 1 Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team to predict precipitation levels, assess current drainage systems and locate homes at risk. Knowlton has also used the county\u2019s geological hazard maps, which identify historical debris fans in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re watching very closely the density, the volume of precipitation that\u2019s in those storms, and we\u2019re going to do our best to predict where that precipitation is going to fall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n People\u2019s homes that weren\u2019t impacted by the fire can still be threatened by the debris flows, Knowlton said.<\/p>\n \u201cDebris can flow far past the exterior boundary of the fire,\u201d Knowlton said. \u201cSometimes, debris flows can reach out way past those perimeters and get into areas that we\u2019ve never experienced water or debris before. People have got to understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowlton said officials know that homes in the path of the Hermosa drainage will be affected. There are also canyons on the southern portion of the fire that are at risk.<\/p>\n Most people in harm\u2019s way attempt to mitigate the threat around their properties by using sandbags. But sandbags aren\u2019t typically much of a match for the intensity and volume of floods because they don\u2019t weigh enough, Knowlton said.<\/p>\n During the Missionary Ridge Fire, some residents dug ditches around their property so the debris moved around their homes. However, that can create problems for their neighbors.<\/p>\n Knowlton said the flooding won\u2019t go away after the first storm.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be storm after storm after storm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n