After scorching more than 33,000 acres of public and private lands in northwestern Colorado, blazes sparked by lightning appear to be under control, fire agencies said.
“Not a lot of new acres burned today,” said David Boyd, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, one of a handful of local, state and federal agencies.
Meanwhile, a pilot of a private air-tanker appeared to have escaped serious injury Wednesday afternoon when his single-engine Cessna went down fighting a blaze 20 miles northwest of Meeker.
The Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office said the plane hit two fire engines, but only one of the firefighters was slightly injured when she was going for cover.
The pilot, who has not been identified, walked away from the crash but was evacuated by a helicopter to a hospital in Grand Junction.
Thirty fires have been sparked by lightning strikes since Sunday, but so far ho homes have been lost and only a few threatened in the remote region.
Most of the fires were small and quickly snuffed out. The Mayberry fire, 32 miles northwest of Craig, was the worst, consuming more than 27,000 acres. Crews expect to have the blaze put out by tomorrow.
No injuries were reported, and the fires mostly consumed tall grass, sagebrush, pinion-juniper and other scrub.
The Mayberry fire scorched 20 gas wells, but the extent of damage is not yet known.
The Prong fire 23 miles northwest of Craig jumped containment lines Tuesday night to burn another 200 acres, coming a total of 5,150 acres since Sunday. The Lone Fire, which burned 950 cq acres located 15 miles north of Elk Springs, is 75 percent contained, fire fighters said.
The Jordan fire started Tuesday and has burned 350 acres in the Windy Gulch Wilderness Study Area seven miles northwest of Meeker.
