United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service San Juan National Forest 15 Burnett Court News Release Durango, CO 81301 Media Contacts: (970)247-4874 Andy Lyon www.fs.usda.gov/sanjuan/ [email protected] (970) 426-5491 Esther Godson [email protected] (970) 422-2671 Ice Fire October 21st Morning Update Silverton, Colo., October 21, 2020 – Firefighters plan to “go direct” along a portion of the fire’s edge today to try and gain further control of the Ice Fire. “Going direct” means extinguishing the fire at its active edge, rather than waiting for it to reach an established control feature like a road. However other parts of the fire are in steep, difficult terrain and crews plan to use helicopters dropping water, to slow the fire’s spread in those areas. One objective is to keep it from spreading toward US Highway 550 and another is to keep it north of the South Fork Mineral Creek Road. The fire’s size was estimated at 508 acres last night and is 15% contained. The fire is in the South Mineral Creek drainage, about five miles west of Silverton. The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. A virtual community meeting on the fire will be presented tonight at 6:00 p.m. via Zoom conference. The Zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88637487127 and the dial-in # is: 669-900-6833. The Webinar ID is: 886 3748 7127. A forest area closure is in effect for the area of the fire on the San Juan National Forest. Going in or being upon all NFS land in the Mineral Creek watershed and all NFS lands bounded in the north by the Ophir Pass road (NFSR 679) south to the Southern ridge above South Mineral Canyon, including Rolling Mountain, Twin Sisters, and Bear Mountain, and US Highway 550 on the east to the Forest Boundary with the Uncompahgre NF on the west, is prohibited. The full area closure order and map can be found on the Forest Special Orders page. Smoke from the fire will be visible on Highway 550, Silverton, Durango, and other surrounding areas and communities. Wildfire smoke may affect your health. For more information, please go to: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health Fire danger remains very high and Stage 1 fire restrictions are in place on the San Juan National Forest (order). Visitors are encouraged to practice extreme caution and be careful with anything that might start a fire. Additional incident information can be found on the Ice Fire Inciweb page at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7251/ , the Ice Fire Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/2020IceFire or by calling the Ice Fire Public Information Officer at (970) 426-5491. All offices on the San Juan National Forest are currently conducting business and providing services virtually. For information on the San Juan National Forest, call (970 ) 247-4874, visit the forest website, or follow us on social media (Twitter and Facebook). -USDA- USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. .