NUCLA, Colo. — Crews are working a wildfire that started Thursday in Montrose County that is estimated to be more than 1,700 acres.
The U.S. Forest Service at the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest said a caller reported at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday that the fire, being called the Bucktail Fire, was burning on private land near County Road 26 and the Bucktail drainage basin, about 6.5 miles northeast of Nucla.
As of Thursday evening, the fire was 0% contained.
The fire was mapped by aircraft and is estimated to be about 1,760 acres, burning mostly pinyon pine, juniper and oak brush.
The fire does have a high spread potential and is showing extreme fire behavior.
Eleven aircraft responded to the fire including one very large air tanker, four large tankers, four single-engine tankers and two helicopters. Engines from Telluride Fire and Nucla Naturita Fire Department also responded, along with a 16-person Job Corp Bizzard Creek hand crew and bulldozers from Montrose County.
Smoke will likely be visible for the next several days, and Country Road 25 Mesa is closed for emergency operations. The closure is in place from the Country Road 25 Mesa and Divide Road intersection, to where the county road intersects with Nucla.
People are asked to avoid the area.