Some firefighters released as light rain falls around Colorado

Light rain around Colorado on Sunday helped snuff wildfires that recently burned more than 58,000 acres, giving some firefighters a break and others a chance to target smoldering logs — and thousands of people evacuated from mountain houses went home.

Federal firefighting crews listed the 81-acre Buffalo fire, two miles west of heavily populated Silverthorne, as 95 percent contained with perimeter lines cut around charred terrain.

While the 34,161-acre wildfire burning in wilderness northwest of Durango was deemed only 30 percent contained, dozens of firefighters on Sunday were released from duty.

The remaining 1,087 firefighters focused on attacking the fire where they could reach it.

The 3,715-acre Burro fire near Dolores, 12 percent contained, still was burning.

Just north of the Colorado-Wyoming border, rain over the weekend and increased humidity held the Badger Creek fire to 20,088 acres, according to a federal bulletin. The precipitation helped control the 474-acre Mailbox fire, 35 percent contained, near Norwood in southwestern Colorado. Firefighters were anticipating increased moisture before a drying trend Tuesday.

No significant flooding of burnt land was reported with rainfall relatively gentle.

“Mostly just sprinkling,” said Kate Jerman of the U.S. Forest Service at Silverthorne, where authorities determined the fire was “human-caused.”

“The rain definitely helped. We’re still depending on firefighters to do mop-up,” Jerman said. “There’s a possibility people could see smoke over the next few days coming from the interior of the fire. Logs and stumps may still be burning.”

It’s too early to assess the extent to which these recent wildfires are likely to bring immediate ecological benefits in Colorado’s ailing, insect-infested forests, officials said.

“Until we can get a good look in daylight, it’ll be kind of difficult to tell,” said Dan Bastion for the multi-agency team battling the 416 wildfire in wilderness.

“It’s usually a mixture of both,” Bastion said. “There will be some areas where fire burned down to the soil. There will be other areas where it just cleaned up ground fuels and conditions will be good for re-growth.”