JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Flames from a wildfire burning near Deer Creek Canyon just west of Ken Caryl in Jefferson County were a quarter-mile away from the closest structures as crews continued to battle one of the most challenging fires to date to protect assets the state cannot afford to lose, county officials said Thursday.
The Quarry Fire has burned 450 acres, up from the 341 reported last night. The new acreage was in open space land, deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said in an update at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. While there has been no containment on the fire, the fire was less active Thursday and crews made progress, a spokesperson from the sheriff's office said.
"We anticipate cooperative weather tonight and tomorrow, and continued helicopter support tomorrow," the sheriff's office spokesperson said. "We also have an additional hand crew coming in tonight to add to the 155 firefighters we currently have on the ground."
Mark Techmeyer, director of public affairs for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said he hopes to have infrared flight data later in the evening to provide an accurate number on acreage and containment.
Describing the blaze as "just different" earlier in the day because of its location on rocky, loose and tough terrain that was difficult for crews to navigate, Techmeyer said later in the afternoon that firefighters "we're in for a long battle."
The area has dense vegetation, including timber and scrub oak, which Techmeyer said has been observed burning up to 50 feet high.
Despite the challenge, Techmeyer said there were some good news on the resources front: The number of boots on the ground had doubled in size from a day prior, with 155 firefighters battling the blaze Thursday, among them the 20-person crew of the Durango-based San Juan Hotshots.
"They're like the SWAT team of firefighters," Techmeyer said. "They take care of tough situations."
While having two air tankers and three helicopters dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant and water on the blaze was critical — especially because of thin resources due to all the other active wildfires in Colorado and in California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada — Techmeyer said it was "boots on the ground (that) are going to win this fight."
By Thursday evening, FEMA had authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Quarry Fire "after receiving the request this afternoon and determining that the fire threatened such destruction that it would constitute a major disaster," per a news release.
FEMA officials said that at the time of the request from the state to receive Federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) funds, the blaze was threatening more than 750 homes and other structures in the area.
The authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75% of the state’s eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling designated fires. The grants do not provide assistance to individual home or business owners and do not cover other infrastructure damage caused by the fire.
Earlier in the day, Techmeyer said the focus Thursday was going to be keeping the fire from jumping to the north side of Deer Creek Canyon Rd., which he described as the "worst case scenario."
"Our number one goal is not to let that happen," he said earlier.
Of the resources that were available to fight the Quarry Fire, Techmeyer said five firefighters were hospitalized Wednesday — four experienced heat exhaustion and the fifth had a seizure. Three of the four who had heat exhaustion were back on the job Thursday, according to Techmeyer, who had not heard of additional cases of fire exhaustion by Thursday afternoon.
"The morale is 'let's go to war,'" Techmeyer said.
While rattlesnakes are active in the area this time of year, Techmeyer said he also had not heard any reports of a firefighter encountering one during their time working to contain the blaze.
"Everyone should be worried right now"
Stressing his previous statements about the danger the fire posed to nearby neighborhoods in the Ken Caryl valley, Techmeyer said that while he did not know which neighborhood was closest to the Quarry Fire, "the flames are a quarter-mile away from the closest structures."
"Everyone should be worried right now. There's a huge fire that's difficult to fight in our community. Not being worried would be the concern," Techmeyer said, as he went into detail about why it was so important to get the fire out as quickly as possible.
"This fire — you look at the incredibly difficult terrain, density of homes, assets that cannot afford to be lost, like a watershed that puts water to people down in Denver, Lockheed Martin right behind us here. Those are things that have got to be protected," he said.
Evacuation orders remain for residents in the Deer Creek Mesa, Sampson, McKinney Ranch, Murphy Gulch, Maxwell and Kuehster subdivisions. The Silver Ranch/Jennings and Silver Ranch South/Homestead South subdivisions were under pre-evacuation notices as was Hilldale Pines, Oehlmann, and the West Ranch subdivisions, according to the Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District.
So far, 575 homes have been evacuated across those six subdivisions and Techmeyer could not say when those people would be allowed back.
"I just don’t know. This thing could go on for days, two weeks — we just don’t know," he told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Road closures remain in place for South Valley Rd., Deer Creek Canyon Rd, South Cougar Rd., Pleasant Rd., West Ranch Trail and Keuster Rd., Techmeyer said.
Chatfield State Park also remains closed to all recreation because of the fire, county officials said.
A map of the evacuation orders can be viewed here and a map of the area under alert can be viewed here. Residents were also encouraged to sign up for the Lookout Alert emergency notification system to keep up with the latest alerts from Jefferson County regarding the fire.
While county officials are thankful to people who have offered donations, they said Thursday that the best way people could help was through monetary donations on the Quarry Fire page of the Jefferson County website.
Evacuees were told to head to Dakota Ridge High School, where over 65 people were taking refuge along with their pets. Large animals were being evacuated to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, but people with smaller animals, like cats and dogs, could go to the Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden.
The Quarry Fire was first reported by a Jefferson County deputy doing his regular patrol in the area at about 9 p.m. Tuesday when he came across a small 10x10 spot fire which grew to 100 acres within about three hours.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
