The Cameron Peak Fire grew to 199,356 acres Saturday, even as fire managers said it didn’t become as bad as feared as they faced high winds through the day.
Containment reached 62%.
During the day firefighters worked to protect structures in the area from Glen Haven to Masonville along the southern flank of the fire.
A spot fire hit east of County Road 27 and burned south toward Masonville during the day, while the eastern flank of the main fire pushed to the southeast.
There was structure loss in the Miller Creek area in the upper end of The Retreat, Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said in an evening Facebook update.
He said he did not know what structure loss might have occurred on Storm Mountain but he thought there might have been some.
Other areas with unconfirmed structure loss are Otter Road and Redstone Canyon, Smith said.
“Sadly, we can’t say how long it’s going to take” to do damage assessment, he said. “We’ll be working as fast as we can.”
Incident commander Dan Dallas said crews were diverted from the north end of the Cameron Peak Fire Saturday afternoon when the Cal-Wood Fire broke out in Boulder County, growing to 5,000 acres in three hours. Jamestown was evacuated due to that fire.
High winds and low humidities fueled the fires under red flag conditions on Saturday.
Weather conditions are expected to be more favorable on Sunday.
Smith noted that he had been worried Friday about the potential for the fire to run and had asked firefighters to do all they could to protect properties in the threatened area of Glen Haven, The Retreat and Storm Mountain.
“They absolutely met and exceeded those expectations,” he said Saturday night.
Smith said when the fire ran toward the east, getting closer to Masonville, it triggered the Sheriff’s Office to extend the mandatory evacuation order east to Devil’s Backbone and on the east side of Glade Road from north of Mildred Lane to north of Spring Canyon Ranch Road.
The LCSO also ordered voluntary evacuations west of Horsetooth Reservoir from on County Road 38E from Rim Rock Valley Lane to South Bay on Saturday afternoon, due to the spot fire near Masonville.
Smith said the Poudre Fire Authority was doing extra patrols to watch that area and put out any spot fires that occur.
He added that people had questioned whether the fire could threaten the city of Fort Collins, but it was unlikely because of the terrain, the work that had been done and the weather.
Many people watching the Facebook live video asked questions about whether fire could threaten the city of Loveland, but those questions did not get a response during the session.
Smith said the fire did not get down to U.S. 34 west of Loveland, but evacuation orders remain in place for the area west of Carter Lake, south of the highway because of the potential for the fire to jump the highway.
Seeing the fire’s eastward push, the city of Loveland issued an alert to residents Saturday afternoon to be vigilant and to quickly respond to any evacuation notices that might go out. To sign up for evacuation alerts, go to NoCoAlerts.org.
“Loveland Water and Power, at the request of the firefighting team, has suspended power service in areas now covered by mandatory evacuations. The city’s water and wastewater services remain fully operational,” city spokesman Tom Hacker said in a news release Saturday afternoon.
He said the city was working with emergency crews to protect the Green Ridge Glade Water Treatment Plant and ensure it continues operating.
On Wednesday night, the city had asked residents to stop all outdoor watering in response to concerns for the water treatment plant.
In the Saturday evening briefing, Smith also reported meeting with officials in Estes Park concerned about the ability of people to get in and out of that town with U.S. 34 closed due to the Cameron Peak Fire and Colo. 7 closed due to the Cal-Wood Fire burning in Boulder County.
The remaining access out of Estes Park is U.S. 36.
The sheriff said if that highway was affected, they could evacuate people on U.S. 34.
The Cameron Peak Fire started Saturday morning at 187,537 acres, with 1,330 firefighters working to fight it.
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October 18, 2020 at 09:57AM
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Cameron Peak Fire reaches 199,356 acres; fire grows near Masonville - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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