Brush fire near Dolores briefly closes Highway 145, prompts road restrictions
Highway 145 was closed just before 5 p.m. at Road 37 after a wind-driven brush fire near Dolores damaged power lines and triggered overnight evacuations; crews reopened the road around 9 p.m.
Fire crews battled a wind-driven brush fire that briefly closed Colorado Highway 145 just before 5 p.m. at Road 37 about ten miles northeast of Dolores, prompting overnight evacuations and damaging power infrastructure, according to local reports and utility posts. The highway did not reopen until around 9 p.m., and initial reporting indicated no injuries.
Accounts differ on the area burned. A state wildfire map listed the blaze at about 20 acres, while a Montezuma County Facebook post said it “affected approximately 80 acres on the south side of Highway 145 between Road 37 and the West Fork road.” Large plumes of smoke were visible during the response, television crews reported, and snow that fell overnight between Friday and Saturday helped dampen flames, a resident and local dispatch said.
Unconfirmed reports circulated that a gust of wind knocked a tree onto a powerline near Highway 145 and sparked the fire, but Montezuma County said the cause was under investigation. The blaze damaged lines and caused outages that extended from Friday night well into Saturday. Empire Electric Association posted at 12:30 p.m. that crews were replacing “5 spans damaged in the fire near road 37 and Highway 145,” and added, “We are hopeful power can be restored to all meters by tonight. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Montezuma County social media thanked mutual-aid crews that responded, listing the Dolores, Cortez, West Fork, Rico, Mancos and Lewis-Arriola fire departments as well as the Division of Fire Prevention and Control, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Department of Transportation for assistance on the scene. Television reports from KJCT and KKCO described the incident as a large brush fire “over the weekend” and relayed officials’ reminders that “With wildfire season fast approaching, officials reminded drivers to secure dragging chains when traveling to help prevent wildfires.”
The Dolores-area blaze was one of several Highway 145 incidents over the weekend. Northwest of Telluride, a separate wildfire closed Highway 145 from Redvale to the Colorado 62 junction near Placerville on Saturday afternoon; the Telluride Fire Protection District estimated that fire at 2.5 acres and said it “was blamed on an unattended campfire on BLM land just west of Caddis Flats.” Miguel County and Telluride-area agencies reopened that stretch about 6:30 p.m., and the sheriff’s office reported no structures or injuries threatened in that incident.
Regional firefighting pressure is intensified by the much larger Plateau Fire, which the Durango Herald reported had grown to roughly 9,000 acres and forced pre-evacuation notices for residents on County Road V.6 and north along County Road 31 to House Creek Road. The Plateau Fire has closed trails and sections of the Dolores-Norwood Road and pushed its eastern boundary to within a mile of Highway 145, public information officer Rob Kopack said in local coverage.
Power outages, overnight evacuations and multiple closures underscore the immediate public health and safety consequences for households between Road 37 and West Fork Road, where residents lost electricity and some were forced from their homes. County officials continue to investigate the Dolores-area cause and utility crews remain on scene replacing damaged spans as crews and agencies work to keep travel corridors and nearby communities safe.
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