A series of wildfires burning along the Front Range foothills have killed one person, destroyed at least six structures, caused the governor to activate the Colorado National Guard and cloaked the sweltering Denver metro in a heavy cloud of smoke.
Together, the four fires sparked along the Front Range since Monday burned across more than 9,500 acres as of Wednesday evening and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people.
All four fires — the new Lake Shore fire in Boulder County, the Quarry fire in Jefferson County, the Alexander Mountain fire in Larimer County and the the Stone Canyon fire in Boulder and Larimer counties — began Monday or more recently and grew rapidly. Investigators have not pinpointed causes for the three larger fires, but believe people accidentally ignited the Lake Shore fire.
The Stone Canyon fire was 20% contained and the Alexander Mountain fire was 1% contained as of late Wednesday.
Hot, dry weather and a plentitude of dry grasses and other fuels have sped the fires’ expansion, which is stretching available firefighting resources. Warmer temperatures caused by climate change have made conditions conducive to fires more common, data show.
Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday authorized the deployment of the Colorado National Guard to the Quarry, Stone Canyon and Alexander Mountain fire, as well as the 180-acre Currant Creek fire burning in Delta County.
During a news conference Wednesday afternoon at a Loveland fire station, Polis warned that the Alexander Mountain fire may take several weeks to fully control. Other public safety officials at the news conference — sometimes interrupted by the sirens of trucks screaming by — predicted “tough days” ahead due to the number of wildfires and a forecast of hot, dry and windy conditions.
“This is likely to be a several-week event, spanning potentially a month, just as the large fires of 2020 were,” Polis said, referring to the summer when the three largest fires in Colorado history raged.
Two new fires in 24 hours
Officials released few details about the person who died in the Stone Canyon fire, except to say that they found human remains in a home. The fire also destroyed five structures — the most destructive fire of those that started this week. The fire exploded quickly from 30 acres on Tuesday to more than 1,500 on Wednesday.
A shift in the fire’s direction allowed authorities to lift mandatory evacuation orders for Lyons and Steamboat Mountain.
The newest fire, the Lake Shore fire, started Wednesday afternoon near the northeast corner of Gross Reservoir in Boulder County and prompted mandatory evacuations. Investigators believe two people accidentally started the fire.
The fire destroyed at least one structure within hours of beginning, but firefighters expressed optimism at a Wednesday evening briefing that they had control of the blaze.
“Hopefully we will keep it at 5 to 6 acres and get it knocked down today,” Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said.
The second-newest fire, the Quarry fire in Jefferson County, prompted the mandatory evacuation Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning of nearly 600 homes near Deer Creek Canyon. Authorities told residents in the evacuation zone that it may be days before they could return.
Crews fighting the blaze struggled to navigate steep canyons, dense brush and large quantities of rattlesnakes, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mark Techmeyer said in a Wednesday briefing. The allocation of several firefighting aircraft greatly helped efforts to contain the fire. As Techmeyer spoke, planes and helicopters circled the fire to drop water and fire retardant.
“We’re still in the woods,” he said Wednesday afternoon after air support arrived. “We’ve still got a long way to go.”
The largest of the fires, the Alexander Mountain fire, grew slightly Wednesday. Fire officials are concerned about protecting the communities of Cedar Park and Cedar Grove and keeping the fire from jumping over U.S. 34, Incident Commander Mike Smith said in a briefing Wednesday afternoon.
Polis, in his news conference Wednesday afternoon, said that the Alexander Mountain fire might take several weeks to control.
The fires are forcing fire officials to make difficult decisions about where to send limited resources.
Stan Hilkey, the executive director of Colorado’s Department of Public Safety, encouraged fire agencies that had sent crews and resources to help battle fires in other states to recall them. Colorado is not yet severely impacted by sharing its firefighting resources, but Hilkey said he worries about staffing the fires in the long haul.
“As the opportunity arises and with the weather patterns we’re going to have the rest of the summer, I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we had those resources back as soon as possible,” he said.
Hot, dry conditions create plentiful fuel
At the front lines of the Stone Canyon fire north of Lyons, Boulder County Sheriff Sgt. Cody Sears had the duty of patrolling the still-unburned areas where flames were flaring and spreading.
“So far, so good. We’ll see what the winds do,” Sears said as he rolled out around 11 a.m. to survey the area.
He went first to an area where flames had taken a run to the northeast, threatening evacuated houses a couple of miles north of Lyons. Firefighting crews were taking advantage of rocks that were slowing the spread — shoveling dirt and spraying water from hoses running to their tanker trucks.
Manitou Springs Fire Department engine boss Keith Buckmiller, 66, oversaw the efforts. Once the sun rose, warming the east-facing mountainsides north of Lyons, firefighters saw the burning intensify within 30 minutes, Buckmiller said.
“Any fire in our conditions — with 20% humidity — is unpredictable and really, really dangerous,” he said, referring to conditions up and down the Front Range. “We are just five minutes away from having any fire take a run.”
The hot, dry conditions across the region in recent weeks have made wildfires more probable and increased their ability to grow, said Peter Bennett Goble, climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center. A wet winter and spring helped grasses and vegetation grow quickly only to be desiccated by a hot and dry summer, converting the vegetation into brittle fuel for wildfires.
As climate change makes Colorado warmer, soils and vegetation will dry out more quickly and wildfires will become more likely, Goble said. Data also show that late summer and early fall is becoming hotter and drier, further extending the fire season.
“The key climate change piece is that the conditions for starting a fire and for that fire spreading are going to be in place more frequently,” he said.
Scattered thunderstorms could roll into the Denver metro at the end of the week, but they could cause more harm than good. While the storms’ moisture might help some, he said, the potential for heightened winds and lightning strikes could hinder firefighting efforts — or spark new fires.
Wetter and cooler weather is forecasted for early next week, which should help slow fire growth, he said.
“If we can make it through next Wednesday evening or Thursday without these fires causing a lot more damage, then I think the weather could shift in our favor,” he said.
Until then, it’s up to firefighters like Sears to keep the blazes from causing more destruction.
By late afternoon, the aerial water and slurry drops had more-or-less held the Stone Canyon fire, preventing it from spreading northeast. But temperatures were rising, exceeding 90 degrees. Firefighters stood ready. And public safety officials again were watching weather forecasts to try to determine whether the wind would pick up.
“Anything is possible,” Sears said. “Right now, all it takes is a gust of wind.”
Current Colorado wildfires
Alexander Mountain fire
• Location: near Loveland
• Acres: 7,648
• Evacuations: 3,245 contacts
• Start date: July 29
• Containment: 1%
Stone Canyon fire
• Location: near Lyons
• Acres: 1,548
• Evacuations: 2,286 contacts
• Start date: July 30
• Containment: 20%
• Deaths: 1
Quarry fire
• Location: near Deer Creek Canyon, southwest of Denver
• Acres: 341
• Evacuations: 575 households
• Start date: July 30
• Containment: 0%
Currant Creek fire
• Location: Delta County, east of Cedaredge
• Acres: 192
• Evacuations: 3 households
• Start date: July 28
• Containment: 20%
Lake Shore fire
• Location: near Gross Reservoir, southwest of Denver
• Acres: 6
• Evacuations: Unclear
• Start date: July 31
• Containment: 0%
