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Southern Rockies
Fire Use Module

Erick Stahlin - Leader
Toni Aguilar - Assistant leader
Kyle Avesing - Squad Boss
Kevin Moriarty - Saw Boss
Tom McCollum - Firefighter
Kelly Bartholomew - Firefighter
Renee Creek - Detailer

The Module is a team of skilled and mobile personnel dedicated primarily to prescribed fire management throughout the prescribed fire season, trained to ignite, hold, and monitor prescribed fires.

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Smoke billows from the Blue 2 Fire.
    © The Nature Conservancy

Go Deeper

The Conservancy's Global Fire Initiative develops solutions that allow fire to play a role in places where the benefits nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive.  


Blue 2 fire in California reaches tree tops while Southern Rockies Fire Use Module looks on. © The Nature Conservancy

Colorado's Southern Rockies Fire Use Module (the Module) was dispatched for the first time since its creation this year to Northern California to assist with fire management on the Ukonon Complex.

Six of the seven team members took four days to arrive at the fire having to zig-zag through Oregon due to the numerous road closures. Toni Aguilar, assistant Module leader, reported via e-mail that the team has been working sixteen hour days since their assignment began 21 days ago.

"The fire is a good ecological burn, however to stay in front of the fire we are conducting burn out operations that can create small cluster torching," Aguilar wrote.

Extreme Conditions

The terrain difficulty is listed as "extreme" on InciWeb, an interagency all-risk incident information management web database and the site reports temperatures ranging between 86 to 92 degrees during the day making for grueling conditions.

"The team's rigorous training and preparation will be put to the test in this rugged country," said Mike Babler, Fire Initiative Program Manager.

Blue 2 Wildland Fire

The fire has been separated from the Ukonon Complex and is now called the Blue 2 Wildland Fire. It is currently 2,767 acres and 10 percent contained. The Module is working with the Unaweep, the Bureau of Land Management's Fire Use Module from Western Colorado. At last report the team was headed out with their assignments to set up photo points, map fire progression, assess fuel conditions, monitor fire behavior and conduct burnout operations.

The Module was created in April of this year in order to help restore Colorado's forests with safe, scientifically-designed prescribed burns on thousands of acres. The Module is also trained to assist federal agencies to allow natural wildland fires to burn in ways that will help restore hundreds of thousands of additional acres.

The team is expected back in Colorado by July 15.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Night falls on the Blue 2 Fire. © The Nature Conservancy; Southern Rockies Fire Use Module member at Northern California fire. © The Nature Conservancy.