Red Canyon Fire Update - 390 Acres, 27% Contained

Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team A

August 14, 2013 (Evening Update)
For Immediate Release
Bill Kight, Information Officer 720-219-4499
Clark McCreedy, Information Officer, 720-219-4502

Red Canyon Fire Update
8:00 PM, August 14, 2013

Fire operations staff reported no fire growth today on the Red Canyon Fire, located approximately 3 miles south – southeast of Glenwood Springs, Colorado.  The fire is now estimated to be 27% contained.  The fire now encompasses approximately 390 acres.  This change in acreage is due to the use of thermal imagery to acquire more accurate mapping of the heat signature of the fire.  Though the fire did experience winds associated with a passing thunder cell today, substantial cloud cover throughout the day helped to moderate fire behavior.

Today’s operations continued to emphasize aggressive suppression of the fire.  Air resources on the fire today included the use of two large air tankers, two single engine air tankers (SEATS) and one light Type III helicopter and a larger Type II helicopter.  Gusty winds associated with an afternoon thunder cell required that the use of the heavy and single engine air tankers be discontinued to ensure crew safety.

This evening, a night shift consisting of two fire engines and a division supervisor will patrol and monitor the fire throughout the night. 

Tomorrow, air operations will continue the use of the two single engine air tankers (SEATS), one light Type III helicopter, and a larger Type II helicopter.  Firefighters will continue to extend and reinforce fire lines for operations tomorrow.  They will use five engines and two twenty person hand crews along the south-southwest flank of the fire; three engines, one hand crew, and one bulldozer on the north-northwest flank of the fire; and, two hand crews and one engine along the eastern flank of the fire.  A structure protection group consisting of two additional engines will emphasize mitigation of the area of the communication towers on Lookout Mountain.

Additional information is available at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/, the Red Canyon Fire Information Blog at http://www.redcanyonfire.blogspot.com/.  the Rocky Mountain Team A twitter feed @RM_InciTeamA, or at the Garfield County website at www.garfield-county.com.  All media should report to or direct enquiries to Red Canyon Fire Information located within the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District Station, 300 Meadowood Drive, Carbondale, CO.  Contacts are listed above.