The Cameron Peak fire topped 102,596 acres, or 160 square miles, overnight Monday, but fire crews credit snowfall and colder weather for stopping a continued spread.
Five inches of snow fell Tuesday morning, fire officials said in a Facebook post Tuesday evening, as an early winter storm transformed large swaths of Colorado from searing heat to near-freezing temperatures.
The snowfall isn’t enough to get rid of the fire, but fire crews expect the snow — along with cooler temperatures, a drop in humidity and different terrain — to dampen fire growth. Even a return to more normal seasonal temperatures and dry weather at the end of the week and into the weekend likely won’t lead to fire conditions like those of last week, said spokesperson Cass Cairns.
Fire crews on Tuesday planned to focus on the section of the fire burning within Rocky Mountain National Park, officials said in news release.
The cold weather — along with rain and snow — is expected to remain over the fire for several days, officials said, until warm and dry conditions and heavy winds return Friday. Firefighters plan to take advantage of the cold temperatures and snow to assess the fire and suppress hot spots as well as opportunities to get closer to the fire. The cold front also helped decrease the size of other fires around the state, helping bring additional resources to the Cameron Peak fire, said Tom Barter, planning operations section chief, in the update.
After remaining relatively stable, the Cameron Peak fire exploded over the weekend, tripling in size as record-high temperatures and low relative humidity fueled rapid growth.
The fire’s quick expansion prompted more evacuations in Larimer County, with an unknown number of structures lost.
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Cameron Peak fire tops 100,000 acres, but snow and cold weather expected to dampen growth - The Denver Post
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