Two wildfires sparked by lightning kept firefighters busy through the weekend in Colorado as they worked against high temperatures and strong winds.
The Medano Creek fire started in Great Sand Dunes National Park two weeks ago and had grown to 4,541 acres as of Sunday afternoon.
The Water Creek fire on the Roan Plateau 10 miles northwest of Rifle has burned 170 acres.
Both fires were caused by lightning. Neither is threatening any structures.
High winds that made it impossible for air support at the Medano Creek fire Sunday also prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red- flag warning for the Interstate 25 corridor and the regions to the west.
Temperatures near Rifle on Sunday were in the upper 80s, and in southwest Colorado they were in the upper 70s. Winds in both areas were above 20 mph.
In 2008, there were 2,038 wildfires caused by lightning across Kansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado.
The number of lightning-caused fires jumped in 2009 to 11,350. This year, there have been 95.
“Lightning might strike, but it may smolder for a few days, and when the temperatures and winds pick up it ignites later,” said Ricardo Zuniga, a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
Zuniga said that because fires can start in remote areas, it takes longer for people to know the fire is there.
“In Colorado, there are a lot lightning caused, but a lot of those are single-tree fires too, not the big ones,” said Kimberly Miller, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management.
Beetle-killed pine trees are among those being burned in each of the active fires in Colorado.
“If they still have needles, they can be more conducive to spread fire; they are better fuel,” said Mary Ann Chambers, spokeswoman for the Bark Beetle Incident Management team.
Once trees have been dead for more than a year, they can be dangerous in their unpredictability in falling but can no longer explode as live healthy trees can.
Yesenia Robles: yrobles@denverpost.com
