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BAYFIELD, CO - At approximately 9:00 a.m. on August 26, 2009 the LaPlata County 9-1-1 center began receiving calls for a structure fire at 57 Vallecito Drive in the Vallecito Lake area of Bayfield. Units from the Upper Pine Fire District were dispatched.

As UPFD Engine 62 went in-service, a large header of smoke was visible from their station. Under an automatic mutual aid agreement, water tenders from the Durango Fire Rescue Authority and the Los Pinos Fire District were also dispatched on the initial alarm.

UPFD units arrived to find a well-developed fire in a two-story log cabin home. The occupants of the home were asleep at the time the fire was discovered and had been awakened and assisted out of the house by neighbors and passer-bys.

After ascertaining that the occupants were out of the structure, Engine 62’s crew started a defensive fire attack. Fire conditions and damage to the home’s roof dictated an exterior operation. As other engines and water tenders began to arrive, additional attack lines were deployed and a water shuttle operation was initiated to provide the needed fire flow. The bulk of the fire was knocked down in approximately twenty-five to thirty minutes.

Due to the condition of the outside deck and floor of the structure, a hydraulic overhaul was conducted. Firefighters were able to salvage some item from the first floor bedrooms that could be accessed by windows on the delta side of the home.

Units were beginning to be released from the scene shortly after noon. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the UPFD.