UPDATE: This story is no longer being updated, read the latest on Alexander Mountain fire here.
New updates
8 p.m.: The Alexander Mountain fire is burning across 5,080 acres as of Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
A multi-mission aircraft mapped the fire at 7 p.m., fire officials said.
4 p.m.: Larimer County officials announced new mandatory evacuations as the Alexander Mountain fire grew to more than 3,500 acres Tuesday.
People living along County Road 43 from Drake to just west of Old Bridge Road and people living on the north side of Carter Lake north of U.S. 34 should evacuate immediately.
2:20 p.m.: Larimer County officials have sent mandatory evacuation notices to 3,245 contacts since the fire broke out Monday, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday afternoon. More than 800 contacts remain on voluntary evacuation notice. Households can have multiple contacts.
1:45 p.m.: According to fire officials, air resources fighting the flames Tuesday include:
- Two air attack planes, which coordinate firefighting efforts from above and act like eyes in the sky for ground crews;
- Four large air tankers, which can drop up to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant at a time;
- Four single-engine air tankers, which deliver up to 800 gallons of fire retardant at a time;
- One “very large” air tanker, which drops up to 8,000 gallons of fire retardant at a time;
- One lead plane, which coordinates, directs and evaluates air tankers;
- And five helicopters.
12:40 p.m.: Fire officials have ordered voluntary evacuations for Hidden Valley east of Devils Backbone Open Space, according to an emergency alert. The voluntary evacuation area includes Ridge Parkway and Spring Glade Road in the north down to Eisenhower Boulevard in the south, according to the evacuation map.
12:35 p.m.: The mandatory evacuation area expanded to include the Masonville area and Glade Road from U.S. 34 to Indian Creek, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. Residents were told to evacuate immediately.
Original story
The Alexander Mountain fire is now burning on more than 1,800 acres of national forest land west of Loveland with 0% containment, fire officials said Tuesday morning.
Firefighting officials said they still don’t know what sparked the Monday morning blaze that forced evacuations for roughly 37 square miles of Larimer County and shut down U.S. 34 to Estes Park.
The wildfire is burning on 1,820 acres of land in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests north of U.S. 34, according to U.S. Forest Service officials. Monday night, officials had estimated flames had charred 950 acres.
“With the low relative humidities overnight, we really saw the fire continue to burn throughout the night,” incident commander Mike Smith said in a briefing Tuesday morning.
The first 911 call reporting smoke west of Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch came in around 10:30 a.m. Monday and Loveland fire crews arrived at the ranch 20 minutes later. County officials started issuing mandatory evacuation orders just before noon.
People living near Storm Mountain, Palisade Mountain, Drake, Dam Store, Waltonia Road, Sylvan Dale to Ellis Ranch, Eden Valley to Sunrise Ranch and County Road 18E from Pole Hill to Pinewood Reservoir were ordered to evacuate immediately Monday.
Larimer County officials sent mandatory evacuation notices to 2,635 contacts and voluntary evacuation notices were sent to 1,491 contacts Monday, according to previous reporting. Updated numbers were not available Tuesday.
Rough boundaries for the mandatory evacuation zone include Devil’s Backbone Open Space to the east, Storm and Spruce mountains to the north, the town of Drake to the west and Pinewood Reservoir to the south.
Smith said fire activity on the west side of the blaze was holding steady near Cedar Creek on Tuesday .
“I don’t expect it to hold for very long, but we do have folks working in that area,” Smith said.
To the south, the fire is spreading down near U.S. 34 and has made its way down one-third of the canyon, Smith said. The fire has not jumped the highway, and the rocky terrain will cause the fire to slow throughout the day as it runs out of fuel.
“We’re still trying to work out our best plan of attack to get around this thing,” Smith said.
Multiple helicopters, air tankers and other aircraft dropped fire retardant and water from nearby reservoirs on the flames throughout Monday, fire officials said.
More than 200 ground crews joined aviation crews Tuesday morning to help fight the blaze.
Smith said the fire teams planned to start dropping water and fire retardant soon after the 11 a.m. briefing, but they had to wait for some of the smoke to clear out of the area.
“High temperatures and low humidity are expected throughout the day with near critical fire weather over the fire area,” forest officials stated in Tuesday’s update. “Significant smoke is expected over the next few days, with heavier impacts in the morning to sensitive populations.”
Temperatures are expected to hit 100 degrees in Loveland amid Tuesday’s heat wave, according to the National Weather Service.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality health advisory in the area because of the smoke.
Southeast Larimer County and Loveland will be most affected by the smoke and other pollutants, state officials said in the advisory. The air quality advisory will remain in effect until 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The smoke from the Alexander Mountain fire will gradually decrease Tuesday afternoon as atmospheric mixing increases, state officials said.
In the evening, heavy smoke will be possible downwind of the fire in Loveland, Windsor, Severance, Greeley and Fort Collins, and smoke is expected to get heavier again overnight, according to the air quality advisory.
