Ignited Friday night by lightning, the Pine Gulch Fire in Mesa County has grown to 1,500 acres as of Sunday.
Initially, the fire was entirely located on Bureau of Land Management lands about 15 miles north of Grand Junction. But as of Sunday, the fire started to encroach on some private lands according to Maribeth Pecotte, BLM’s public information officer for this fire. No structures are threatened at this time.
The fire’s spread primarily happened Saturday night into Sunday morning. It’s burning in a ridge in pinyon, juniper, oak, and sage brush in rugged terrain.
“With the difficult terrain and the continuous fuels, it really makes it difficult for firefighters to go on a direct attack,” Pecotte said. “So they’re looking at the road system so they can indirectly maybe put fire on the ground.”
There are 86 people to contain the fire Sunday in addition to three helicopter crews. Pecotte said BLM is also getting extra equipment including more water tenders, engines, and fire dozers.
Mesa County is experiencing drought-like conditions and there is no rain expected to come in the area over the next few days.
