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Fire 55 percent contained, at nearly 60,000 acres
The High Park Fire perimeter as of June 19.
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Cooler temperatures and a slight increase in humidity Wednesday may help firefighters gain more ground against the High Park Fire in Larimer County. The fire was reported as 55 percent contained Tuesday evening, but not before it once again jumped Poudre Canyon, requiring a few more new evacuations in the Glacier View area.
Despite the slight change in the weather pattern, with a cold front approaching from the northeast, firefighters are still facing some of the most dangerous fire conditions in recent memory, with fuel moisture measurements at or near record-low levels, and relative humidity extremely low for this time of year.
Details on new evacuations and re-evacuations are online at the Larimer County Sheriff website.
Officials said the fire also grew significantly in the Cache La Poudre Wilderness Area, north of Old Flowers Road, The fire has nearly reached 60,000 acres in size and extreme fire weather the past few days saw the flames double back and burn pockets of fuel within the existing perimeter.
Crews were able to quickly build fire lines around the spot fire on the north side of Poudre Canyon, in the Sheep Mountain area and are also concentrating on structure protection and holding the fire east of Pingree Park Road to prevent growth to the West.
More than 1.700 personnel have been assigned to the fire, with total firefighting costs estimated at $17.3 million so far.
Fire officials said they will be planning and preparing for possible burnout operations on the west side of the fire to prevent more significant growth in that direction. Those activities include the use of tree-felling equipment to remove some fuel from the fire lines before intentionally setting fires to create a burned buffer zone to slow the flames.
Filed under: Colorado, forest fires | Tagged: Cache la Poudre wilderness, Colorado wildfires, High Park Fire evacuations, High Park Fire Jun 19 map, High Park Fire June 20, Larimer County Colorado | 2 Comments »
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