Firefighters made progress on the north and east sides of the Deer Creek Fire on Thursday thanks to cloud cover and cooler temperatures, according to the Friday update from InciWeb.
The fire, now in its eighth day, has burned 15,819 acres and stands at 11% contained.
Resources include six helicopters, 29 engines, 11 crews, five bulldozers and 484 personnel.
Fire managers and local officials hope to allow residents who were evacuated a week ago to return “as soon as it is safe,” according to InciWeb.
Some residents were allowed to return on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Firefighters are staged out of four spike camps reducing travel time to more remote areas of the fire and facilitating easier access to meals and rest,” reads the statement. “Resources continue to be positioned on the west end of Paradox [Colorado] where structure protection assessments are being made and the construction of a contingency dozer line.”
Firefighters also burned vegetation between fire breaks east of the Peaceful Valley Ranch in Colorado.
Smoke remains in the area; for more information on air quality, visit AirNow.gov. Anyone traveling along the Highway 46/90 corridor near the Utah-Colorado border should be aware of heavy fire traffic and the possibility of low visibility conditions.
Evacuations: The San Juan County evacuation zone map and additional information can be found on the San Juan County Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SanJuanUtah. Sign up for emergency alerts:
San Juan County, Utah – https://sanjuancountyut.gov/emergency-management/page/san-juan-alerts
Montrose County, Colorado – https://montrosecountysheriffsoffice.com/montrose-alerts/
Closures: For the safety of firefighters and the public, the Manti-La Sal National Forest has enacted an area closure. County roads within the San Juan County evacuation area are closed to public traffic. Anyone traveling along the Highway 46 / 90 corridor near the Utah-Colorado border should check current road conditions for information about any possible closures and be aware of changing conditions.
Please avoid the area of the old airport landing strip in Spanish Valley so that the helicopters and crews can safely operate. The Bureau of Land Management, Uncompahgre Field Office has issued a Temporary Emergency Closure that affects roads on BLM-administered public lands in the Paradox area in Montrose County, Colorado. For more information on all closure orders please visit: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-closures/utmlf-deer-creek.
-Doug McMurdo
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