Firefighters Actively Managing Lightning Strike in Salter Canyon Area
Incident: Knolls Fire Wildfire
Released: 11/3/2016
DOLORES – The Knolls Fire was reported yesterday afternoon at .1 acres burning in ponderosa pine forests at about 8,200 feet in elevation in a fairly remote area of the San Juan National Forest. The fire is located approximately four miles southwest of Lone Mesa State Park in Dolores and Montezuma counties. The fire was naturally caused several days ago by a lightning strike. The Knolls Fire is currently estimated at 250-300 acres, with 80 percent of that the result of burnout operations. The Fire could reach Resources onsite include U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management fire crews. About a dozen firefighters and two wildland fire engines are on scene conducting burnout operations to contain the fire within an area surrounded by forest roads. This approach will allow fire to play its natural role in the ponderosa pine ecosystem to make the forest more resilient to future fire, insect or disease.
Firefighters are currently focusing operations and patrols along the Dry Canyon Road (Forest Road 510), which is south of the Salter Y intersection and Forest Road 514. Undeveloped private land exists two miles to the north, and firefighters are focusing efforts to make sure the fire does not spread in that direction. Crews will continue to patrol the area as long as the fire burns. Smoke is expected to be visible from the Dolores-Norwood Road (Forest Road 526), Forest Road 514, and from the nearby communities of Cortez and Dove Creek along Highways 145, 184 and 491. Travel should not be affected on roads in the area, except for Forest Road 510 and possibly Forest Road 514 at times due to possible heavy smoke. Roadside signs will be posted alerting the public to fire operations. Night-time smoke may settle downslope in valleys to the south within the McPhee Reservoir area, along Hwy 184 and portions of Highway 145 in the Dolores River Canyon.
For more information, contact the Dolores Ranger District at 970 882-7296.
For more information, call the San Juan National Forest at 970 247-4874, visit the Forest Website at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/sanjuan/ , or follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SanJuanNF
