20 Fires Burning Between Utah and Colorado

It seems like the whole country is on fire.

According to the Incident Information system, there are 20 fires currently burning in Utah and Colorado. The Dollar Ridge fire southeast of Salt Lake City has burned in excess of 57,000 acres so far, but is now 95% contained, while the Indian Valley fire in northwest Colorado has burned just over 7,000 acres and has yet to be contained.

Many of these fires have been ignited by lightning and are in areas not usually inhabited by humans.

The Lake Christine fire near Basalt, which had been reported as nearing 60% containment, has moved north and is now less than 40% contained and has burned over 11,000 acres. This fire, of course, was started by two young people firing tracer bullets at a shooting range.

Since we can't control the weather, let's remind ourselves that there are fire bans in place in Colorado, meaning no open fires, no fireworks or anything that may start a wildfire.

If you are unsure if you should burn or not, don't. Talk with local authorities and make sure you can.

Let's not burn any more of either of our beautiful states.