Colorado wildfire updates: 5 firefighters injured battling Quarry fire in Jefferson County
Colorado wildfire updates for Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024The four wildfires[cq comment="cq" ] burning across Colorado's Front Range this week have charred thousands of acres[cq comment="cq" ], killed one person[cq comm…
Colorado wildfire updates for Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024
The four wildfires burning across Colorado's Front Range this week have charred thousands of acres, killed one person and destroyed at least six buildings.
As of Wednesday night, the four fires were burning on more than 9,500 acres, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people and prompting Gov. Jared Polis to deploy the Colorado National Guard.
National Guard members will begin helping with logistics, road closures and other tasks that will free up fire officials and firefighters, Polis said.
All four fires — the Quarry fire in Jefferson County, the Alexander Mountain fire in Larimer County, the Stone Canyon fire in Boulder and Larimer counties and the Lake Shore fire in Boulder County — began this week and grew rapidly, fueled by hot, dry weather and parched conditions on the ground.
The Quarry fire is burning on 341 acres of land in Jefferson County open space, but fire officials said it did not grow overnight.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Mark Techmeyer said increased humidity overnight helped calm the flames and prevent the wildfire from spreading a significant distance.
However, hot, dry and windy conditions are set to return Thursday, which could revive the fire's growth, Techmeyer said in a morning news briefing.
The fire is currently about a quarter-mile from the nearest home — in the Deer Creek Mesa subdivision — and firefighters Thursday are focused on keeping the flames away from houses and keeping it on the south side of Deer Creek Canyon Road , Techmeyer said in the briefing.
"Deer Creek Canyon Road is the key for us," he said. "If we lose control of the fire and it jumps over to the north side, that would be our nightmare."
As four helicopters and a large air tanker doused the flames with fire retardant and water on Wednesday, ground crews from more than a dozen fire agencies worked to cut off the fire's path.
Five fire engines and 17 firefighters from West Metro Fire Rescue dug firelines, cut down brush and vegetation to take fuel from the fire and conducted "burnouts" along roadways. Burnouts remove fuel from the fire's path and help strengthen natural or manmade barriers that act as containment lines.
"Everybody should be worried right now," Techmeyer said. "There's a huge fire that's difficult to fight. Not being worried would be the concern."
Five firefighters were injured Wednesday, according to Techmeyer. One had a seizure and four were taken out of the field due to heat exhaustion.
Techmeyer said none were hospitalized and at least three of the firefighters were back on the job Thursday.
The Deer Creek Mesa, Kuehster, McKinney Ranch, Murphy Gulch, Sampson and Maxwell areas remained under mandatory evacuation Thursday morning, according to the county's evacuation map. The Hilldale Pines, Oehlmann Park, Silver Ranch and Silver Ranch South neighborhoods were on pre-evacuation notice.
Techmeyer said he's seen bigger fires in higher elevations, but the Quarry fire is one of the toughest he's had to fight because of the terrain.
Steep, rocky areas filled with debris, fallen trees and rattlesnake nests make it difficult for ground crews to fight the flames, Techmeyer said.
Thursday morning, the San Juan Interagency Hotshot Crew arrived in Jefferson County to help fight the flames.
Based out of Durango, the Hotshots are a specialist firefighting team that trains year-round to battle fires in tough terrains. Techmeyer described the group as the "SWAT team of firefighting."
"This fire is not going to be won in the air," Techmeyer said, adding that air support made a big difference Wednesday but wouldn't be enough by itself. "Because of the terrain, it has to be won on the ground, with boots on the ground."
Crews Thursday will continue to dig fire lines and remove fuel from the fire's path, attempting to form a circle around the fire to contain it, Stacy Martin, assistant fire chief at Evergreen Fire Protection District, said in Thursday's morning briefing.
As of Wednesday night, 75 firefighters were working on the ground to fight the flames. No homes have been lost, Techmeyer said.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Techmeyer said the fire was originally discovered by a sheriff's deputy around 9 p.m. Tuesday and was moving southeast. The fire bloomed from a 10-foot section to the size of 37 football fields in less than an hour.
Firefighters work on fighting the Alexander Mountain fire that continues to burn near Sylvan Dale Ranch west of Loveland on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
The Alexander Mountain fire charred more than 7,000 acres of national forest and private land near Loveland on Wednesday, according to fire officials.
As of Wednesday night, the fire was burning on 7,648 acres in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and on private land north of U.S. 34, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.
The fire mainly grew to the northwest and was 1% contained as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, forest officials said. The small section of containment is on the east side of the fire, near Sylvan Dale Ranch.
At 6 a.m. Thursday, a national fire agency — Southwest Area Incident Management Team 1 — took over the fight. Larimer County officials and local fire agencies will continue to assist.
The cause of the Alexander Mountain fire remains under investigation.
A home off Stone Canyon Road appears almost entirely burned down by the Stone Canyon fire near Lyons on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)
The Stone Canyon fire burning on more than 1,500 acres of land in Boulder County killed one person, injured four firefighters and charred at least five homes on Wednesday.
Firefighters had gained 20% containment on the 1,548-acre Stone Canyon fire as of Wednesday night, Boulder County officials said.
The fire did not see significant growth Wednesday, Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said. He declined to release further details about the person who died and said investigators were at the home where human remains were found.
Johnson said it's difficult to tell exactly how many buildings have been affected by the fire because there's a large number of outbuildings — including barns and sheds — in the area that have been destroyed.
Rough boundaries of the mandatory evacuation zone Thursday include Bear Trap Gulch and Cattle Drive Road in Larimer County to the north; Rabbit Mountain and Carter Lake Reservoir to the east; Indian Mountain and U.S. 36 in Lyons to the south; and Elk Ridge and the end of Hell Canyon Road to the west.
As of Wednesday morning, Boulder County officials had sent mandatory evacuation notices to 2,286 contacts, the sheriff's office said.
Several roads are closed in the area for firefighting efforts, including Blue Mountain Road, Steamboat Valley Road, Stone Canyon Drive, Nolan Drive and North 53rd Street.
Thick smoke from the Lake Shore fire can be seen near the entrance of Flagstaff Road in Boulder on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)
The Lake Shore fire is burning on six acres of land near Gross Reservoir in Boulder County, fire officials said.
As of Wednesday night, fire officials were talking to two people they believe accidentally started the fire, which was still 0% contained.
One home and one other structure were "impacted" by the fire, Mountain View Fire Rescue spokesperson Rick Tillery said Wednesday. The agency could not confirm whether the structures were destroyed, but live helicopter footage from 9News showed a home destroyed by the fire.
Several roads remain closed in the area for firefighting operations, including westbound Flagstaff Road from the Mountain View Fire Rescue station to Gross Dam Road and Lake Shore Drive beginning at Gross Dam Road.
The Lake Shore neighborhood north of the reservoir remains under mandatory evacuation orders. County officials set up an evacuation point at the county building at 1333 Iris Ave. in north Boulder.
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