El Paso County Sheriff’s Office conducting wildfire mitigation in Black Forest
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The county's Wildland Fire Crew is spending three days burning piles of branches and other excess vegetation at Fox Run Regional Park in Black Forest.
The Sheriff's Office is overseeing work by volunteers and firefighters to remove potential fuels that could help a fire to spread.
Mitigation work began Thursday and will continue through Saturday; smoke will be visible in the area.
The burning is kept under control by snow cover on the ground from recent snowfall, and calm winds.
"These are piles of slash generated from us thinning the forest for its own health and for fire resistance," said supervisor Bob Ayotte. "Using smaller diameter limbs, we've created these piles so they'll consume pretty quickly -- usually within 4 to 5 hours."
Crews began mitigating 80 acres of the park two years ago, and still have 200 more to address.
"We've burned more than 100 piles so far," Ayotte said. "We'll burn as many of the remaining 100 piles as we can on Saturday."
Firefighters use a torch to ignite the piles and once most of them are consumed, blowers are used to add oxygen to the remaining debris, turning it a hot, glowing red until only ashes remain.
But don't get too close... as this reporter learned from his burned sweater.
Crews dump snow on the burned areas to smother them and make sure the fires are out.
Nathaniel Hernandez, a college student majoring in communications, is among the volunteers participating.
"I had to train for three weekends to be certified to do this," he said. "A lot of this stuff is so much different from what we do in our daily lives. You just need to repeat it over and over again. So these trainings really help to move that muscle memory and build up that confidence -- so that when we do have a real fire, we can perform."
Wildfire prevention is always at the forefront in Black Forest, after a major fire there in June of 2013 destroyed more than 500 homes, contributed to two deaths and burned approximately a third of the forest.
The fire is the second-most-destructive in state history, surpassed only by the Marshall Fire in Boulder County two months ago.
