Two lightning-sparked wildfires burning in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park scorched more than 400 acres on Thursday and led to the evacuation and closure of the park.
Fires were spotted on the north and south rims of the Black Canyon after heavy lightning activity early Thursday morning, park spokesperson Lori Rome said. The fires are near Kneeling Camel and the park’s west boundary.
The South Rim fire is burning on 400 to 500 acres and dropped below the canyon rim as it moved west, according to the Gunnison Regional 911 Center. A size estimate for the fire on the north rim was not immediately available.
Multiple aircraft are fighting the fire and a federal incident management team is set to take command of the fire first thing Friday, emergency officials said.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management crews are also fighting the fires, Rome said.
In an early Thursday afternoon post on X, the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention said that one of its engines was responding to the fire on the north rim. The agency stated that the Colorado State Patrol has been called in to help evacuate campgrounds in the park.
There is extreme fire danger in the park and Montrose County is under Stage 1 fire restrictions because of high temperatures, extremely low humidity, gusty winds and dry vegetation, NPS officials said.
Colorado public health officials issued an air quality advisory for Delta, Montrose and southern Mesa counties on Thursday afternoon until Friday morning because of the wildfire smoke.
People should consider remaining indoors and limiting outdoor activity when there’s heavy smoke, state officials said, and if visibility is less than five miles, smoke in the air has reached unhealthy levels.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.
