Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020 at 2:33 p.m.
Heavy, sustained winds Saturday afternoon caused the Cameron Peak Fire to grow to more than 120,000 acres. The fire's new growth claimed structures near Rustic along Highway 14, and it moved into the Shambhala Mountain Center's campus south of Red Feather Lakes, according to fire officials.
The incident management team's Cory Carlson said given the extreme weather, the day could have been worse.
鈥淚 would say all in all, for the 65-mile-an-hour winds we had out there and the conditions I feel like today was fairly successful,鈥� Carlson said.
Mandatory evacuation orders remain in place for communities in and around Red Feather Lakes.
The fire is now the third largest in Colorado's recorded history, just below 2002's Hayman Fire for total acreage burned. The fire's growth Saturday led to diminished air quality across the Front Range, as smoke from both the Cameron Peak and the Mullen Fire in southern Wyoming blanketed the region.
Monday, Sept. 21, 2020 at 11:31 a.m.
The Cameron Peak Fire continued to grow over the weekend, prompting further evacuation orders.
Larimer County Sheriff鈥檚 Office issued new mandatory evacuations for residents in Red Feather and Crystal Lakes. Glacier View is under a voluntary evacuation order.
Firefighters say high winds caused the increased fire activity, and helped the fire grow another 1,500 acres on Sunday, jumping containment lines. Weather conditions Monday are expected to make firefighting difficult.
The fire is now at 104,157 acres and 15% containment. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued air quality alerts for the Front Range. Heavy smoke will mainly impact Weld County and southeastern Larimer County including Greeley and Fort Collins.
Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 11:42 a.m.
The Larimer County Sheriff鈥檚 Office has lifted an evacuation order for Glacier View, northwest of Fort Collins. The area just outside Red Feather Lakes had been under voluntary evacuation since Labor Day weekend due to the Cameron Peak Fire.
Nearby homes in Red Feather Lakes, Crystal Lakes and the Shambhala Mountain Center are still under voluntary evacuation orders.
The fire is expected to see renewed activity this week with warmer temperatures, while crews are constructing containment lines. It鈥檚 burned 102,596 acres and remains at 4% containment.
Monday, Sept. 14 at 4:30 p.m.
Fire officials are expecting the Cameron Peak Fire west of Fort Collins to see renewed activity this week with higher temperatures in the forecast. Last week鈥檚 snowstorm damped the flames and kept the fire from growing, but it鈥檚 not fully out.
While activity has been light these last few days, the fire still has life. As the snow melts off, firefighters are actively seeking & extinguishing hot spots like these along the firelines & around structures. See
— Canyon Lakes Ranger RD (@usfsclrd)
Cory Carlson, with the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 3, says crews have been using the pause in fire activity to try and contain it.
鈥淭he total fire perimeter around this whole fire, we mapped it out yesterday, it鈥檚 237 miles,鈥� Carlson said during a Facebook Live update. 鈥淪o to put that in perspective, that鈥檚 a ton of ground, and none of that is flat. And some of it we can鈥檛 even get people walking in it.鈥�
Carlson says upwards of 100 miles of fire containment lines need to be built to begin to get a hold on the fire鈥檚 growth. Rugged terrain will prevent line construction from happening across the fire鈥檚 entire perimeter.
鈥淭here will be areas where we won鈥檛 be able to put people in there because of safety concerns,鈥� Carlson said.
Increased smoke from the fire is likely this week.
Clear skies this past weekend allowed for a helicopter flight to take infrared images of the fire, Carlson said. Those images are being used to direct ground crews and heavy machinery.
Many areas near the burn area in Poudre Canyon, Big Thompson Canyon and Red Feather Lakes orders. on many popular trails, campgrounds and roads throughout the National Forest land where the fire is burning. Nearly all trailheads off highway 14 in Poudre Canyon .
The fire is currently the fifth largest in the state鈥檚 history. Fifty-four structures have burned.
Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 10:09 a.m.
Some residents who evacuated earlier this week are now heading home.
Sue Hewitt had been staying with family in Denver for several days, but says she鈥檚 confident the snow and cold weather will keep the fire at bay.
鈥淚 just want to get home,鈥� said Hewitt, who lives in Glacier View Meadows. 鈥淚 have the hope to think that this snow is going to slow the fire down enough and hopefully we won鈥檛 have to evacuate again.鈥�
Firefighters spent most of Tuesday assessing damage in the burn area as several inches of snow covered the fire. No structures were reported destroyed. As of Wednesday morning, the fire remained at 102,596 acres in size.
Several evacuation centers are still open for residents and animals. The Ranch Events Complex in Loveland is holding dozens of horses, donkeys and other large farm animals.
A few dozen evacuated horses are still being kept outside of The Ranch in Loveland. Some owners tell me they might keep them here for the next week in case the picks up after the snow.
— Matt Bloom (@matthew_bloom)
The horses are cold and not happy. But they'll be ok.
On Tuesday, Sean Elsper helped his family move their four horses, Willie, Jet, Ropin鈥� and Delilah, into a temporary stable. He planned to keep them away from his family鈥檚 ranch in Rist Canyon for at least a week.
鈥淭he horses technically could go back up,鈥� Elsper said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e going to wait and see what happens.鈥�
Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 3:16 p.m.
Red Cross volunteer Lorraine Janson says her evacuation shelter in Laporte saw at least 130 families on Labor Day as the Cameron Peak Fire grew.
"Several of them had gone through the High Park Fire years back, and had rebuilt and they were back doing the same thing again," she said. "So they were really nervous as to, 'What are we going to go back home to this time?'"
The Red Cross is arranging hotel stays for those evacuated because of the pandemic. The team overseeing the fire response says the burn area has received measurable snow, and it should lessen fire activity for the next several days.
Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 11:09 a.m.
Evacuation orders for the Red Feather and Crystal Lakes communities have been downgraded to voluntary. Rustic, Pingree Park, and Buckhorn Road remain on mandatory evacuation.
The Larimer County Sheriff鈥檚 Department said residents in the following communities are allowed to return home:
- Crystal Lakes
- Red Feather Lakes
- Lady Moon
- Red Feather Highlands
- The Shambhala Center
- All Glacier View Filings
- All residents south of Highway 14 on County Road 27 from Stove Prairie Landing south to County Road 44H to include Stratton Park.
鈥淧lease be sure to have proper identification to show residency in those areas, as only residents will be allowed to enter,鈥� the department . 鈥淲e ask that you use caution when driving through the area, as emergency crews are still present.鈥�
This is the Larimer County Sheriff鈥檚 Office with updated information on several evacuation areas. Cameron Peak fire officials have downgraded the evacuation status from mandatory to voluntary for the following notification areas: Crystal Lakes, Red Feath
— LETA (@LETA_911)
Firefighters spent most of Tuesday morning assessing damage from the Cameron Peak Fire鈥檚 explosive growth over the holiday weekend. Paul Bruggink, public information officer for the fire鈥檚 response, said there have so far been no reports of structure damages.
鈥淲e have some accumulating snow, which is good,鈥� Bruggink said. 鈥淭he relative humidity is up, which really really helps.鈥�
The fire has now grown to more than 102,000 acres, surpassing the size of the 2012 High Park Fire. It鈥檚 now Larimer County鈥檚 largest fire on record and the fourth largest in Colorado's history.
Incident commanders were mostly focused on making plans for when the current cold front moves out of the region later this week, Bruggink said.
鈥淭he snow is going to melt,鈥� he said. 鈥淕radual warm up is predicted and there鈥檚 still a lot of fuel that鈥檚 hot underneath that snow. We鈥檙e hoping we can get an infrared flight and find out where the hotspots are and plan out our activities from there.鈥�
The Poudre Valley REA, the region鈥檚 electric co-op, announced it had cut power to more than 400 homes in the fire鈥檚 evacuation area.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have an estimate for restoration at this time, but will keep members updated as we are able,鈥� the co-op said in a tweet.
update: At the request of Fire Incident Command, all power out of our Rustic substation has been de-energized. We don鈥檛 have an estimate for restoration at this time but will keep members updated as we are able. Our outage map is current:
— Poudre Valley REA (@PoudreValleyREA)
Monday, Sept. 7 at 6:47 p.m.
The Cameron Peak fire burning west of Fort Collins exploded in size over the holiday weekend, prompting new mandatory evacuations and blanketing most of Northern Colorado in a thick cloud of smoke.
On Monday, as the fire grew to more than 89,000 acres, the Larimer County Sheriff鈥檚 Department ordered residents in the Red Feather and Crystal Lakes communities to evacuate their homes due to 鈥渋mmediate and imminent danger.鈥� The agency also issued several more voluntary evacuations for communities east of the fire.
鈥淔ires like this can run until they run out of fuel,鈥� said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith at a press conference Monday, where he urged residents to heed local evacuation orders. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 afford to roll the dice.鈥�
I'm at a press conference on
— Matt Bloom (@matthew_bloom)
Sheriff's dept says the coming snow will help "park" the fire but "thousands" are still under evac and the fire is v unpredictable.
It wasn鈥檛 immediately clear exactly how many people were placed under evacuation orders, but Smith said it was likely 鈥渋n the thousands.鈥� No structures had burned as of Monday afternoon, but that could change, he added.
鈥淭his fire is very personal for everybody up there,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淏etween fires and floods they鈥檝e been through a lot this past decade, but I鈥檓 hopeful. And with active structure protection I feel better.鈥�
Sue Hewitt had spent the weekend following fire updates online and building a fire break around her home in the Glacier View Meadows neighborhood. When she got the evacuation order Monday, she rushed to put her black lab, Olive, and jack russell terrier, Arlo, in the car and drove south to stay with family in Denver.
鈥淚t looked like Armageddon,鈥� Hewitt said. 鈥淭he smoke was dark as dusk and I feel really lucky to have a place to stay.鈥�
The fire ignited almost a month ago near Cameron Pass and Chambers Lake in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Hot, dry and windy weather on top of an abundance of dry fuels in the area have been driving the fire鈥檚 growth in recent days, according to the fire鈥檚
Nearly 800 crew members were working to protect homes and other structures in the fire鈥檚 path Monday. Staff at Rocky Mountain National Park also closed Trail Ridge Road as the fire crossed into the park鈥檚 remote northern section.
鈥淚t kind of exploded the last couple days,鈥� said Paul Bruggink, public information officer for Cameron Peak fire response. 鈥淲e prepared for it the best we could.鈥�
Farther east, residents of Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley spent the long weekend under a thick cloud of smoke and ash. The material covered homes and cars across the region and forced many to seek shelter indoors.
The is spewing a mean cloud of smoke over Loveland and most of NoCo tonight.
— Matt Bloom (@matthew_bloom)
The fire is growing and new evacs have been ordered for some communities.
It鈥檚 still raining ash in Fort Collins this morning.
— Jessica Tryner (@Jess_Tryner)
Chris Keller, who lives near the foothills on the city鈥檚 west side, spent all weekend inside. He said he and his girlfriend were thinking about driving to stay with family in Lincoln, Nebraska.
鈥淭his fire as well as quarantine has put a damper on everything,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 expect the fire to come into town, but I鈥檓 just trying to take whatever precautions.鈥�
Relief could be in sight due to a forecasted cold front set to move into the region Monday night. Evan Direnzo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Northern Colorado and the Denver metro area could see a temperature drop of up to 70 degrees.
鈥淪nowfall is one of the best things to help put (the fire) out,鈥� Direnzo said. 鈥淎s the cold front comes through, it鈥檚 going to knock the plume out of the area so we shouldn鈥檛 see as bad impacts on air quality hopefully.鈥�
The I-25 corridor north of Denver could see between 3-6 inches of snow on Tuesday. The foothills could see between 8-14 inches, Direnzo said.
Chuck Russell, deputy incident commander for the Cameron Peak response, said the snow should give firefighters much-needed time to protect more structures.
鈥淗owever, it's not going to put it out,鈥� Russell said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still going to be a lot of work to do.鈥�
