Middle Fork Fire Fact Sheet
Acres: 19,782
Incident Commander: Jeramy Dietz, Type 3 IMT
Fire Information: 970-439-4725
Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7153/
Today’s Situation: The fire area did not have any substantial growth yesterday despite the high winds. This is due to efforts to complete fire lines and establish anchor points to hold the fire spread. Aviation resources assisted firefighters with suppressing hot spots yesterday. Crews scouted trails and road systems on the east side of the fire to pre plan for the use of heavy equipment and crews to construct fireline in the event of additional fire growth. For Thursday, crews and aviation resources will continue suppression operations.
Please be aware of additional trails and roads that are included in the Middle Fork Fire Public Safety Closure Order. To view the order and closure map, please visit inciweb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7153/. Please avoid the closure area to allow firefighting resources to safely travel to and throughout the incident to perform suppression operations.
Weather:
- Much cooler temperatures will be seen today after a cold front moves through the area. Expect mostly sunny skies and a breezy afternoon with evening temperatures 43-48 degrees and 51-56% relative humidity. Winds will be out of the west at 8-12 mph with gusts to 25 mph in the afternoon.
- Tonight- Clear night skies with lows between 19-24 degrees and relative humidity of 51-56% with winds out of the west at 3-6 mph with gusts to 10 mph.
Fire Behavior: The fire perimeter will continue to have some hot spots with moderate fire behavior with some torching, flanking, and backing fire towards the northeast, northwest and southeast is possible.
Firefighting Resources: Approximately 167 personnel are assigned to the fire, including five helicopters, two single engine airtankers, one air attack aviation supervision module, two hotshot crews, four engines, and multiple overhead positions.
Evacuations: There are no evacuation or pre-evacuation orders in effect for Routt County. Pre-evacs are in place in Jackson county for Rainbow Lakes, Aqua Fria, as well as Teal and Tiago Lakes areas. This is not intended for the Rainbow Lakes Community. That notification from Jackson County was primarily made for hunters, and ranchers with cattle in those areas. Not all management action points stimulate evacuations, however if the fire were to reach any pre-identified management action points that are evacuation related, it would trigger Routt and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to initiate pre-evacuation orders through their reverse-911 system. To sign up for alerts, visit http://routtcountyalerts.com or https://jacksoncountyor.org/emergency/Resources/Citizen-Alert. The county provides tips for wildfire preparedness, including planning for pets and livestock, on their website at http://www.co.routt.co.us/309/Fire-Safety-Tips-for-Rural-Residents.
Fire Restrictions: Stage 2 Fire Restrictions are in effect in Routt and Jackson counties, on all the Routt National Forest, and across much of Northwest Colorado. For additional information, please visit the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/mbr/home
There is a new fire start in the Grimes Peak area. The East Troublesome Fire was reported at 4:00 pm on 10/14/2020. The fire is located on the Arapaho National Forest, but is managed by the Medicine-Bow Routt National Forest. Resources from the Middle Fork Fire will assist with suppression operations on the East Troublesome Fire today. For information on the East Troublesome Fire, visit InciWeb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7242/