By Chris Mannara
Staff Writer
A brush fire in Aspen Springs unit six that occurred on the morning of July 11 was reportedly started due to fireworks and is under investigation.
Nine Pagosa Fire Protection District (PFPD) personnel were paged out by dispatch to a wildland fire at 748 Gun Barrel Road at about 8:20 a.m. on July 11, according to PFPD Deputy Chief Karn Macht. The PFPD arrived on scene at 8:51 a.m.
“Upon arrival, found a quarter-acre fire, attack lines were stretched, fire was knocked down. We got some more resources on scene,” he said. “Another brush truck, and the Forest Service sent a squad. We cut a handline around the fire and mopped it up and we left it monitor status and went back on Sunday and put some more water on some hot spots.”
According to Macht, the PFPD would be checking on the fire as of Monday to make sure all the smoke in the area has been taken care of.
“The fire was burning in the ground. It actually scorched some Ponderosa pines and went through some Gambel oak and went through some grass,” Macht described. “If it would have gotten bigger, there was some structures that were in the area, but, luckily, we were able to get a handle on it before anything was threatened.”
The PFPD left the scene on July 11 at 11:37 a.m. and returned to the scene on July 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Macht reported.
About 3,000 gallons of water were used on July 11 to combat the fire and 4,000 gallons of water was used on July 12, Macht noted.
According to Macht, the cause of the fire is undetermined at this time, but noted that the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office made contact with some people who were on-site and that “fireworks were a potential cause.”
