Rain came to the aid of those fighting the Oil Springs Fire south of Rangely on Thursday, after it had grown to 12,648 acres earlier in the week.
The fire continued to keep Colorado Highway 139 over Douglas Pass closed, at least until this morning, due to continuing concern about protecting the public, and also firefighters as they work along the highway. The fire is burning close to the roadway.
“At this point we have crews along 139 really working to make sure that the fire is secure along that highway corridor so we can get that reopened for travel,” said Dana Harris, a spokesperson for the incident management team managing the fire response.
The fire’s official acreage was still being reported at around 7,400 acres Wednesday, but that didn’t yet account for sizable growth the blaze exhibited later in the day on Tuesday, according to Harris.
More favorable weather arrived in the area of the fire Wednesday, with cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity, and Harris said the fire was seeing some moisture on Thursday. She wasn’t expecting to hear reports of a lot of growth by the fire Thursday with the weather conditions modifying its behavior.
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