LOVELAND, Colo. — The growth of the largest wildfire burning in Colorado currently has been halted, thanks to the diligent efforts of firefighters working the Alexander Mountain Fire.
The fire, which has burned over 9,000 acres, is 74% contained as of Monday. It's burning west of Loveland, near Drake.
As the firefighters have tackled the rough terrain, Garrett Mogel and the Larimer County Sheriff's Office worked to document their efforts. They compiled photographs from the first week of the fight and shared them with Denver7.
For those working with the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority (LFRA), the Alexander Mountain Fire is burning in their backyard.
“When it's your own community, you have a little bit more ownership in the job that you do there," the logistics captain Mark Lyons said. “It's always a shock when it happens in your own community.”
Lyons has worked with LFRA for 31 years in September. He's from Loveland, and his father was a firefighter as well.
“It's not just putting out the flame front at the very beginning, but there's a lot of work to do after that," Lyons said.
Kevin Hessler is a battalion chief with LFRA, who has worked there for 24 years. He's born and raised in Loveland.
“It definitely doesn't seem like the actual wildfire season does stop, and I think we've come accustomed to that and being prepared for that," Hessler said. “The threat is always there.”
Hessler was the first battalion chief on scene of the Alexander Mountain Fire.
"It was just like most calls, right? It starts small," Hessler explained. "This fire, though, it took off fairly quickly, and with our coordination with Larimer County Emergency Services, we were quickly able to start getting additional resources to the scene, as well as air resources fairly quickly, so that coordination between the two entities was very helpful in the early stages of the incident.”
Around 100 firefighters with LFRA have worked on the Alexander Mountain Fire, according to an estimate from Hessler.
“Everybody wants to get up there and be able to help out in any capacity that they can," Hessler said. “It started here and... it's going to end here.”
Tyler Nathe is the wildfire program coordinator with LFRA.
“I have 21 years in wildland fire from kind of all over the place, and a new position that was created with Loveland fire just this year to start working on some mitigation activities and develop a wildfire program for Loveland Fire," Nathe said.
Nathe spent seven days working the Alexander Mountain Fire. Monday was the first day he had off since the fire started.
“We had a really wet summer last year, which led to a large amount of grass crop, and then didn't quite have the wet spring like we typically do here in May," Nathe said. "Fire leaders from all over the state were kind of bracing for a hotter and drier season coming into this year."
Nathe said at first, firefighters were outnumbered by the intensity of the Alexander Mountain Fire.
"It's a difficult thing to watch houses burn, and know that you there's nothing you can do about it, and just have to move on to the next one and try to save the next one and keep going," Nathe said. “At that point, it's not about any of us. It's about doing whatever we can to help make a difference, however we can.”
Nathe said in those situations, firefighters focus on their training, which ensure emotions do not dominate their work in the field.
"That stuff [emotions] can all come later, and I'd be lying to you if I didn't say it wasn't an emotional thing, but the professionalism and the training and everything that comes with the job that we do takes over in those moments and allows us to perform at a high level. and do it safely," Nathe said. “It's never a safe situation to go into that, but it's also, it's what we signed up for, and it's what we have a duty to do.”
All wildfires are different, Nathe said, and each has their specific challenges.
“Resources nationwide are spread pretty thin. So when we're cut thin on the ability to get additional resources, it changes the way that we have to look at things and the way that we have to engage and try to fight these. So it makes a challenging environment even more challenging," Nathe said. "As we seem to be getting historically hotter and historically drier, those challenges are just increased.”
Teamwork is what ultimately allows firefighters to gain the upper hand, Nathe said.
"We don't look at ourselves as heroes by any stretch of the imagination," Nathe said. “It takes a mountain of people to accomplish these things.”