As wildfires on the Front Range simmer down, fire officials in Southwest Colorado are welcoming an additional crew and resources that have been sent to the area in case such a blaze should begin in our area.

In addition, local fire restrictions were upgraded on Wednesday to prohibit all campfires, even those in designated spots, on public lands.

"In our kind of work, we always plan for the worst and always hope for the best," said Tim Oliverius, fire management officer for Mesa Verde National Park.

Even though most fires have been sparked by lightning, local officials have decided the risk is high enough to warrant a ban on campfires, smoking, explosives, including fireworks, and chainsaw use on all public lands in Southwest Colorado.

Fifteen fires were sparked by lightning between Sunday and Tuesday on the eastern part of the La Plata mountains.

Help is on its way, however. Five wildland fire engines, two ground firefighting crews, and a helicopter will be sent to the area this week. These resources will be shared by firefighters from the San Juan National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado State Forest lands, and volunteer fire agencies bordering these lands.

The 20-person hand crews are traveling from Montana with their own leadership in tow. They will make up part of the area’s tactical group of firefighters.

The Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center manages the shared firefighting resources for each of the five federal agencies that manage public lands in the area, and acts as the reporting center for fire sightings. According to Cary Newman, manager of the dispatch center, the area’s conditions have warranted additional resources from the regional interagency office in Denver.

"The fire danger is generally high to very high in most areas, except possibly in the highest elevations," said Newman.

The agencies currently share 14 wildland fire engines, which hold 250-350 gallons of water each, and two helicopters — one at Mesa Verde National Park and one in Durango.

Although each agency has its own special land considerations, Mesa Verde National Park must protect the safety of park visitors, park buildings, and archaeological treasures. In the event of a threatening fire, the park uses an evacuation system to safeguard the lives of visitors and employees.

"One of the main reasons we have an evacuation plan is because there is only one road in and out," explained Oliverius. "We’re concerned whenever we get in real dry years like this."

The decision to evacuate the park during the 1996 Chapin 5 fire was made in 20 minutes, and completed in three hours.

Mesa Verde has its own eight-person helicopter (helitack) crew, five ground firefighters, and close to 30 employees qualified to fight fires.

Within the park is Park Point, one of the area’s two fire lookout towers. Volunteers at this tower and at Benchmark Tower, located on the northwest edge of the Dolores Ranger District, watch for fires seven days a week in remote backcountry areas. In addition, a daily reconnaisance plane flies over the park and the 1.2 million acres of BLM and forest service land.

Once a fire is spotted on any public lands, an initial attack team of two to three firefighters are dispatched to the area, where they then assess the fire’s size, the weather, density of vegetation nearby, and any threats to people or structures. The agency can then dispatch ground crews, helicopter water drops, or whatever measures are necessary to contain the fire.

If a fire escapes an initial attack and burns for longer than a day, other crews will be sent in to help contain it.

According to Tom Kelly, district fire management officer for the Dolores ranger district, 80 percent of the fires in the Dolores district are Type IV and V fires, which means that the complexity and duration of these fires is low enough for the district’s eight-member team and wildfire engines to contain them usually within a day.

Fires are classified from Type I, which would be a major wildfire that involves hundreds of acres and may threaten life and property, to Type V, which is a smaller fire that is less complex. Lightning causes most fires in Southwest Colorado.

Last year there was one Type III fire, but the national forest hasn’t seen a severe Type II fire since 1996, which burned 4,000 acres in Disappointment Valley in the northeastern end of Dolores county.

Many western homes have been built in the midst of forest areas that are a traditional fire path. Here are some tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for protecting yourself and your home from fires:

-- Use fire-resistant materials when building, or renovating your home.

-- Avoid using wooden shakes and shingles for a roof. Use tile, stucco, metal siding, brick, concrete block, rock, or other fire-resistant materials. Use only thick, tempered safety glass in large windows and sliding glass doors.

-- Create a safety zone to separate your home from combustible plants and vegetation. Stone walls, swimming pools, and patios can be used as safety zone protection.

-- Install electrical lines underground, if possible. Keep all tree and shrub limbs trimmed so they don’t come in contact with the wires.

-- Prune all branches around the residence to a height of 8 to 10 feet. Keep trees adjacent to buildings free of dead or dying wood and moss.

-- Remove all dead limbs, needles, and debris from rain gutters.

-- Store combustible or flammable materials in approved safety containers and keep them away from the house.

-- Keep your chimney clean.

-- Install smoke detectors on every level of your home and near sleeping areas.

-- Make evacuation plans from your home and from your neighborhood. Plan several routes in case the fire blocks the escape route, and have disaster supplies on hand.