After the flames, the recovery: Meeker area looking at years to overcome fire impacts

MEEKER — Weeks after the embers cooled from two major wildfires that hit Rio Blanco County this summer, recovery efforts are just getting warmed up.

And some of those involved are advising that the fires’ impacts and the work it will take to recover will go on not just for months but years.

“Some things are going to change with the landscape for a long time,” Reece Melton, the county’s natural resources manager, said while showing a reporter around damaged areas early this month.

The fires created lasting and costly impacts, harming power infrastructure, leading to post-fire debris flows, and damaging rangelands and fencing.

“We’re going to be dealing with this as an electric cooperative and the county’s going to be dealing with this and landowners are going to be dealing with this for