San Juan Hot Shots

San Juan Hot Shots
Firefighters a welcome addition to Four Corners

Jan. 17, 2001

The decision to base a "hot shot" crew of firefighters at the Durango-La Plata County Airport is good news for Southwest Colorado. The Mesa Verde fires of 2000 alone are proof of that.

The San Juan Interagency Hot Shot Crew will consist of 20 career and temporary firefighters who will be available night and day, seven days a week. The team will help with prescribed burns on federal lands during the winter, and be available to assist local firefighters when needed.

Its primary responsibility, however, will be to respond rapidly to wildfires, and its training and equipment will reflect that. The Hot Shots should be able to get to an area fire within two hours.

That alone is reason to welcome them. A quick response can mean the difference between a blaze that burns a few acres and one measured in miles.

Just look at Mesa Verde. In the summer of 2000, the Bircher and Pony fires burned more than a third of the park. They shut down the park, swept over irreplaceable ruins and did lasting damage to the area’s economy. The Bircher fire covered more than 140 square miles, 80 percent of which was inside the park. The Pony fire burned a 600-year-old forest that will not boast piñon and juniper again for a century.

Putting a Hot Shots team in the Four Corners is part of the National Fire Plan. Created in response to the 2000 fire season, when wildfires burned 2.3 million acres of national forest, the plan provides $1.8 billion for firefighting and fire prevention.

The cost for the San Juan crew will be borne by the Forest Service, which also sponsors Hot Shots in Monument and Fort Collins. Crews in Craig and Rocky Mountain National Park are supported by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service.

Basing the Hot Shots at the Durango airport coincides with the establishment there of an air tanker base, which will allow planes to take on fire retardant minutes away from area fires. From May to October the base will also be home to a four-engine P-3 Orion aircraft. Another, smaller plane used to direct aerial firefighting, and a helicopter will be stationed there as well.

Together with the Hot Shot team they should make up a potent force for protecting both public lands and private property. Anyone who cares about either should welcome their arrival.