TOP STORY: The South Rim Fire at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park continues to grow, now at roughly 3,800 acres. Shifting winds moved the fire back towards the main rim overnight on Sunday. Evacuations are still in effect for a number of area residents near the park. Tyler Nathe, Operations Section Chief with Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 3 provided an update early yesterday morning. One concern remains critical infrastructure near the East Portal area. For more visit South Rim Fire Information Facebook page.
US Highway 50 is a primary route for residents, visitors, and emergency response near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. At this time, Highway 50 remains open, however, conditions around the fire area can change rapidly due to fire behavior, weather, and response activity. Officials are urging residents to visit.COtrip.org or use the COtrip app for the most up-to-date road closure information, please
Residents of Delta County and neighboring counties will likely see fire engines patrolling the North Fork Valley, Grand Mesa and surrounding areas over the next few weeks according to Delta County Emergency Management. The patrols as part of a new joint Wildland Fire Taskforce to increase preparedness to combat new wildfire starts. Fire crews are working to be pre-positioned in areas to quickly respond to new wildfire starts and support local fire protection districts to prevent another major wildfire from developing in our county and region.
The newly formed taskforce is a multi-agency effort led by the GMUG National Forest Fire Crews to increase preparedness and resource levels while fire suppression efforts are at critical levels at the local, region and federal level. The goal is to boost wildland fire response capabilities for new starts while other crews work to suppress and contain the Sowbelly, South Rim, Turner Gulch and Deer Creek fires which are burning across Delta, Montrose, and Mesa Counties. Just a reminder: Delta County and all local U.S. Forest Service and BLM lands remain under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions and we encourage residents to report any new fires to 9-1-1 that are not associated with one of the existing large wildfires already burning.
FEATURE: The passage of President Trump's budget bill that sent shock waves across the healthcare industry due to large Medicaid cuts. KVNF Senior Reporter Lisa Young spoke with Jonathan Cohee, CEO of Delta Health, last week to find out how the small hospital on the Western Slope plans to move forward. Today we talk about a provision in the budget bill that would provide some financial relief over five years and how small Colorado hospitals dodged a potential large pay back to UC Health due to a miscalculation.
