Pony Fire kicks up trouble

Pony Fire kicks up trouble

August 5, 2000

Journal Staff Report

Mesa Verde National Park was evacuated shortly after 8 p.m. Friday in the face of an advancing wildfire.

Afternoon winds had whipped the Pony Fire into a conflagration. It had spilled over the park boundaries and onto Wetherill Mesa, and fire officials judged that it was threatening residential areas on Chapin Mesa. Employees of ARAMARK, the park concessionaire, and all except essential employees of the Park Service were hustled out of the park.

The fire, which had seemed fairly minor Friday morning, had produced a towering plume of smoke by mid-afternoon. After dark, flames reflecting on the underside of the smoke-and-vapor cloud provided a hellish scene for Cortez residents looking toward the southern skyline.

At 8:30 Friday evening, Fire Information Officer Randy Burgess said the fire had consumed 1,500 acres. By Saturday morning, park officials were were discussing the loss of closer to 3,500 acres. The fire had burned over the developed ruins area on Wetherill Mesa. Modern structures had been damaged; archaeological resources had fared better.

Saturday morning, firefighters were concerned about the east flank of the fire, which still offered substantial fuel. If it gained ground on Long Mesa, a western wind Saturday afternoon could propel it onto Chapin Mesa. The southern edge, which had grown rapidly Friday, had approached the rim of the mesa and officials hoped it wouldn¹t drop into the canyons. On the north edge of the fire, the retardant line had held through the night.

Helicopters were dropping water on the fire Saturday morning, but the availability of both water and equipment limited the effort. The Pony Fire was competing for firefighting resources with numerous other fires across the western United States. Wildfires have burned an estimated 3.8 million acres already this summer, only halfway through the fire season. Canadian firefighters have responded to blazes in Montana, and U.S. Army and Marine Corps personnel had been sent to fires in Idaho.