LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — "At least two dozen structures" have been damaged or destroyed in the Alexander Mountain Fire in Larimer County, the sheriff's office confirmed Thursday.
On Thursday, the Southwest Incident Management Team I took command of the fire. By Friday morning, the fire — the largest wildfire burning in Colorado — grew to 9,194 acres and was 5% contained. More than 300 personnel were working to get the Alexander Mountain Fire under control as of Friday morning, according to the Larimer County sheriff's office.
In a news release Thursday afternoon, the sheriff's office said its crews were able to go into impacted neighborhoods that day.
"Unfortunately, they confirmed that at least two dozen structures in the immediate area of Palisade Mountain Drive and Snow Top Drive have been damaged or destroyed by the fire," the office said. "The structures are believed to be a combination of homes and outbuildings."
Damage assessment teams planned to look at those properties more thoroughly on Friday morning, as fire conditions allow.
"Affected property owners will be notified by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office once that process is complete," the sheriff's office said.
Anybody who believes their home was impacted by this fire can call Damage Assessment Center at 970-980-2800.
“Getting the notification that your home or property has been damaged is never easy. We will grieve alongside our neighbors through this difficult process, and our team will be here for you in the difficult days and months ahead,” said Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen. “The hundreds of people assigned to this fire will continue working around the clock to keep our community safe.”
During a press conference at 4 p.m. Thursday, fire officials explained the current status of the fire, which remains active on most sides. The Southwest Area Incident Management Team 1 took command of the fire at 6 a.m. Thursday — a transition that has gone smoothly.
Jayson Coil, operations section chief in charge of strategic operations for the incident management team, explained that the strategy implemented Thursday is the same that the local team had used Wednesday.
"In close coordination with the Larimer County sheriff and a lot of the other cooperating agencies, we've also had, I'd say, a significant amount of success — not complete success — today, but it's been, all in all, a positive day," he said.
Most of the fire's growth Thursday happened in its northern section.
Crews were mostly focused Thursday on the Cedar Park area, which the fire tried to move into. Fire activity picked up in the afternoon in a drainage that runs up toward Spruce Mountain, Coil said.
"We anticipate that before the end of this operational period that that fire will hit the Cameron Peak Fire scar, and we do not anticipate that fire to move very far at all into that Cameron Peak scar, which will prevent it from threatening things that are on the opposite side of Cameron Peak," he said.
Should the fire move more than a mile beyond that point, they will create a new plan with the sheriff's office.
"So this morning, the humidities were higher than they were yesterday morning, and the haze stayed longer, which kept the fuels cooler," he continued. "So I would say, compared to yesterday, and especially compared to the day before, fire behavior was down slightly. Once the air cleared and the fire could breathe, and it got the sun on it, then the fire activity picked up. Fortunately, by the time that occurred, there was a lot of good work done in some of those critical areas to prevent the fire from continuing to move through there."
Watch the full press conference from Thursday afternoon below.
Larimer County Sheriff's Office Capt. Tim Keeton said depending on the day, between two and six aircraft have flown over the fire to attack it from the air.
Overnight into Friday, crews will protect structures and establish and maintain patrols, Keeton said. There is a small chance of showers over the fire on Friday.
He also provided some more details on the structures lost in the fire.
"We have had loss and structures lost in this fire up to this point. Up in the area — and I want to be very specific — in the very immediate area of Palisade Mountain Drive and Snow Top Drive, we have lost approximately two dozen structures," Keeton said. "I want to emphasize this doesn't necessarily mean two dozen homes. These structures are combinations of homes and outbuildings, but our guest at this point, from the firefighters that have been in there, is approximately two dozen."
No other specifics on those losses were available.
The below map details current mandatory and voluntary evacuations, as well as road closures. Click here for a larger version. For the latest on evacuation changes, text LCEVAC to 888777 or go to www.nocoalert.org.
Mandatory evacuations are in place for the following areas:
- Drake to Dam Store along Highway 34, including Storm Mountain and Palisade Mountain
- County Road 43 from Drake to just west of Old Bridge Road
- Waltonia Road, Sylvan Dale to Ellis Ranch, and Eden Valley to Sunrise Ranch
- Near Bobcat Ridge and Flatiron Reservoir
- Masonville area and Glade Road from Highway 34 to Indian Creek
- County Road 18E from Pole Hill to Pinewood Reservoir
- North side of Carter Lake north to Highway 34
- Dunraven Glade, along County Road 43, including Streamside Drive and Dunraven Glade Road (evacuation area extends north past Miller Fork Road and Dunraven Trailhead)
Pre-evacuations are in effect for:
- Glen Haven, west towards Dark Mountain
- Hidden Valley east of Devils Backbone including Ridge Pkwy and Spring Glade Rd to the north
Evacuation centers are set up at:
- Foundations Church, 1380 Denver Ave, Loveland
- Estes Park Events Complex, 1125 Rooftop Way, Estes Park
- Boulder County Fairgrounds, Exhibit Building, 9595 Nelson Rd, Longmont
City of Loveland Acting City Manager Rod Wensing signed a Declaration of a Local Disaster Emergency on Thursday for this fire, joining both Larimer County and the State of Colorado, which did the same on Tuesday. These declarations enable access to local, state, and federal resources for emergency response, the city said.
The Glen Haven Post Office has temporarily closed, as many of its customers are under mandatory evacuations. Those customers can pick up their mail at the Estes Park Post Office, located at 215 W. Riverside Drive in Estes Park.
More wildfire stories
About 265 people are working to contain the blaze. Persistent hot and dry weather is expected over the fire area Thursday, according to Inciweb.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Authorities are asking anybody with information about how it started to submit a tip to the U.S. Forest Service here.
The Alexander Mountain Fire is one of three significant fires burning on the Front Range. There is also the Stone Canyon Fire in Boulder County and Quarry Fire in Jefferson County.
Wildfires are now a year-round threat in Colorado. Denver7 is committed to covering their impact and the people working to find solutions to the threat.