The Hovenweep Fire seems to be under control, but the Bircher Fire on Mesa Verde National Park and the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is still burning, still growing. Growing along with it are suspicions that firefighters could have stopped those fires a lot sooner if they hadn’t been so restricted by the requirements to protect archaeological sites.

There are two separate issues involved in deciding whether the balance between archaeological preservation and firefighting was appropriate. The first is archaeology. Land managers responsible for protecting ruin sites are not absolved of that responsibility even when a fire is burning in the area. It makes sense that they make recommendations to firefighting agencies about areas of archaeological concern. That shouldn’t translate into an automatic decision to value centuries-old ruins over modern dwellings and certainly not over the lives of firefighters.

A balance needs to be struck, and the change in status of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument may be so recent that such a protocol has not yet been developed. Now we understand the need; we assume that rational discussions will be forthcoming, and we’ll all have a chance to weigh in about priorities.

What we shouldn’t do, especially at this point, is assume that everything would be different if only platoons of bulldozers could have been deployed. That may be true in some places; it’s absolutely false in others, and only time and calm analysis will tell us which are which.

Simple math tells us that it’s a lot easier to stop a fire when it’s small. As it grows, the perimeter grows longer and longer, and that translates into more territory that firefighters must cover. In this country, much of that terrain is steep and rocky, and firebreaks are difficult or even impossible to cut. It makes sense, then, to build them as early as possible, and to pick the battle lines carefully.

The Bircher Fire started in one tree last Thursday. Five days later, it covers thousands upon thousands of acres. We all wish it had been limited to that one tree, and if it’s true that a lightning strike to that same tree was reported several days before the fire broke out, we will certainly all wish it had been handled differently then. We regret that the fire ever reached the grain field that allowed it to spread so quickly, but that was so early in the game that the few firefighters on the scene had no chance to cut a firebreak.

The brush is tinder-dry, the humidity is negligible, and the winds have been blowing. How wide a firebreak would be required, realistically, to contain the fire? One cinder caught on an updraft can negate the whole effort and endanger the lives of firefighters trying to cut the line. It doesn’t make sense to risk lives if the odds of success are poor, and the odds of success against wildfires in southwestern Colorado right now are very poor indeed.

There are many, many variables in the equation, and we don’t yet have enough information to solve it. When the smoke clears, we’ll undoubtedly be able to identify decisions that were inappropriate. For now, though, we need to remember a few very important facts: We’ve had few serious injuries, and the firefighters have done a good job of protecting property. When one looks objectively at the number of acres burned, it’s nearly miraculous that the losses haven’t been much greater.