Mother Nature Helps Extinguish Decker Fire With Snowstorm
Thanks to Mother Nature and a tremendous amount of work by firefighters, the Decker fire burning south of Salida is fully contained as of October 24.
The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office reports all evacuation orders have been lifted. According to the Denver Post, fire restrictions in unincorporated Chaffee County have been canceled. The canceled restrictions may not apply to U.S. Forest Service land or BLM boundaries, though, according to a social media post from the sheriff's office.
So, what happened? Well, eight inches of snow on Wednesday and Thursday happened. It seems a nice, thick blanket of snow really does the job.
Of course, Mother Nature's contribution comes after countless hours of grueling work on behalf of firefighters. As you may recall, the Decker fire began on September 8, the result of a lightning strike. By my math, that's 47 days during which crews risked their necks to control the fire.
Does this mean the matter is completely resolved? Not necessarily. Officials remind the public that just because the fire is contained, that doesn't imply there won't be residual smoke and fuels that smolder.