DENVER — Firefighters working the Gold Mountain Fire are balancing suppression efforts with a growing threat from flash flooding as the burn scar becomes increasingly vulnerable to heavy rain, according to fire officials and a climatologist tracking the region.
"It's definitely at the forefront of our mind," said Incident Commander Type 3 trainee Theo Engel, who is working the fire for the U.S. Forest Service's Gunnison Ranger District.
he area is under a Flood Watch until Monday evening, and the southern end of the burn scar has already experienced flash flooding.
"Precipitation over a fire is kind of a mixed blessing in that it can aid in making suppression efforts more effective," Engel said. "However, with that comes an increased risk from flash flooding, debris flows, and things like that."
Climatologist Becky Bolinger, an affiliate faculty member at MSU Denver, said the main threat is heavy rain within a short period of time. Some forecasting models show the possibility of an inch of rain falling in a single hour. She said that intensity is especially dangerous over terrain like the Gold Mountain Fire area.
"When you put that inch over a very wide area and you add sloping terrain like mountains or particularly inside a steep canyon, and that rain doesn't have any time to go into the soil and it all runs off, it can quickly balloon up into large amounts of water together, just rushing over one area," she said.
Bolinger also said burned soil can't absorb water the same way.
"It means that soil can't take in moisture in a lot of areas," she said. "It becomes more like the surface of your car, and that rain just bounces right off and then runs right off."
For firefighters, that runoff creates additional dangers, including downed trees, potential slides and the possibility that escape routes could be cut off.
When flood risk rises, crews may be pulled back from the fire area, even temporarily, Engel said.
"We will disengage them from some of the steep terrain that they're working in, or if there's a possibility that the road system that they use to access that area of the fire could become compromised," Engel said.
The Gold Mountain Fire is currently at 92% containment. With Colorado's monsoon season still active, the threat from heavy rainfall continues alongside firefighting operations.
There are still several closures in place due to fire activity near the Gold Mountain Fire.
"The hazards out there are many, and we're just trying to limit the access or the amount of people that are in those high risk areas to minimize the risk," said Andrew Kehler, Agency Administrator on the Gold Mountain Fire with the U.S. Forest Service.
They are asking everyone to adhere to those closures, even as people may be eager to hike or hunt in the area nearby.
