An ounce of prevention

Earlier this month, the National Interagency Fire Center reported that western Colorado’s precipitation was not only below historical figures for the spring and summer months, but part of a trend that is expected to continue for the remainder of the year. This follows close on the heels of several notable fires for the season. Names like Lee and Elk, Turner Gulch, and South Rim have spent enough time in the headlines that they have become difficult to forget. However, there is one fire that has not gotten the same amount of attention: Animas Mountain.

The city of Durango sits directly at the foot of Animas City Mountain. Dotted along its base are multiple residential neighborhoods, the downtown area, the transmission lines serving the city’s power grid, important water reserves, and the main transportation arteries for the region. As a result, Durango is uniquely exposed to the potential for catastrophic damage in the event of a wildfire. And, on Aug. 9, 2025 – during a period of widespread fire restrictions and extreme fire danger – an illegal campfire escaped containment on Animas City Mountain.

“Wildfire in that area, under those conditions, presents a serious problem,” said Derek Padilla, the manager of the Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office, which includes Animas City Mountain.

Padilla said the complications and dangers of wildfire spreading in the area are significant. Intense wildfires increase potential risks to public and firefighter safety, the urgency of public evacuations, the density of smoke exposure, and the severity of economic losses. In excessively dry conditions – like the ones present in early August – those risks are sharply elevated.

It has been said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Years of planning by land managers had produced a strategy specifically designed to reduce the mountain’s capacity to feed a large-scale wildfire.

In May of 2023, the Tres Rios Field Office partnered with several Durango-area agencies to implement the first part of that strategy by conducting a prescribed burn on Animas City Mountain. Over the course of three days, 495 acres of combustible materials were reduced to ash, creating strategic fire breaks to act as choke points that could slow – or even halt – a fire.

The process itself, while not without risk, is significantly less hazardous than the alternative of allowing forests to go untreated. In the last few decades, the 416 and Missionary Ridge fires stand as unfortunate examples in the Durango area, having collectively burned approximately 127,000 acres, caused mudslides and killed off wildlife, forced mass evacuations, destroyed nearly 50 homes, and claimed the life of a firefighter.

“Without the work we did to reduce fuels in 2023, the conditions of the mountain and the environment would have likely produced a similar outcome to what we saw in the Missionary Ridge or the 416 fires,” said Rusty Stark, the fire management officer for the BLM’s Southwest District.

Fortunately, the plan worked, which is why there are no headlines about the Animas Mountain fire. Ultimately, the escaped campfire burned one-tenth of one acre and was extinguished.

“It took a long time to plan, and it’s going to require regular treatment to maintain. Forest health and resilience are long-term commitments,” said Stark. “But the results really do speak for themselves.”

For more information on the Bureau of Land Management’s wildfire programs and mitigation strategies, visit the fire program website. To see how wildland firefighters implement forest treatments, watch the video of the 2023 Animas City Mountain burn.