Summit County Citizens Voice

Fire is about 40 percent contained

A Google map showing the intersection of Soda Ridge Road and Keystone Gulch Road (CO Rd 175), where a wildfire is still burning. Beetle-killed lodgepole pines are visible in the lower right area of the image, which is where the fire is burning.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A helicopter joined the attack on a stubborn wildfire burning in Keystone Gulch, dumping buckets of water on hotspots and flare-ups in terrain so steep that firefighters would have a hard time standing up straight, according to Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Lipsher.

The fire is about 40 percent contained by the most recent conservative estimate, but Lipsher said the fire crews have not been able to update the acreage figure yet. As of this morning, the fire’s footprint was estimated at about 20 acres, but it probably grew today.

About 40 firefighters were on-scene Friday, working in mixed conifer forests, including beetle-killed lodgepole. More resources are expected to arrive on scene tonight and tomorrow, and management of the fire is to be transferred from local control to a federal Type III incident-management team at 8 p.m. tonight.

Firefighters work in downed timber to clear logs and extinguish hot spots at the Gulch Fire in Keystone, Colorado. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE LIPSHER, LAKE DILLON FIRE-RESCUE.

The fire is burning on a ridge just west of the Keystone Ski Area. It started Thursday afternoon (June 2) and threatened several condominiums and homes. The cause remains under investigation.

The fire is in an area riddled with dead-standing lodgepole pine that is being logged to reduce the threat of wildfire to nearby development, and the work already done there contributed to the success in defending the imperiled homes.

At this time, Keystone Resort is not threatened and is open for summer operations.

A helicopter drops water on the Gulch Fire, in Keystone, Colorado.

Firefighters are dwarfed against a blackened hillside at the Gulch Fire in Keystone Colorado as they work to extinguish hotspots. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE LIPSHER, LAKE DILLON FIRE-RESCUE.

Filed under: Colorado, Dillon Ranger District, Environment, forest fires, Forest health, forests, pine beetles, pine beetles and wildfires, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news, White River National Forest Tagged: | Colorado news, Colorado wildfires, Keystone Gulch wildfire, Keystone wildfire, Summit County News, Summit County wildfire