On the hottest day of the year so far, wildfires erupted throughout Colorado on Saturday, producing fast-moving fires that burned down homes in Estes Park, forced evacuations in Colorado Springs and shut down state highways in southern Colorado.
Firefighting officials are girding for more of the same as a hot and dry weather pattern likely won’t lift until midweek.
A jetliner full of firefighters has been summoned to the Western Slope, where buses will take them throughout the state; firefighting planes and helicopters are being positioned around Colorado to be ready to strike; and fire managers are set for a tough battle over the next few days.
“We are preparing for the worst while hoping for the best,” said Steve Segin of the Rocky Mountain fire-incident team. “We just have to hope Mother Nature gives us a break.”
Relative-humidity levels were near zero Saturday, drying trees and grasses to tinderbox-like conditions. High temperatures hovered above 100 degrees. And even the slightest wind could blow a spark into a raging fire.
Fire managers use the “Haines Index” that takes into account temperatures and moisture content to determine the fire potential on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being the worst possible conditions for large fire growth.
Saturday was a “super 6.” Today is expected to be the same, Segin said.
“We have got a couple of critical fire days ahead,” he said. “It is going to be very active. We haven’t had a fire season this bad since certainly 2002.”
Eight large fires were burning in Colorado on Saturday, including the High Park fire in Larimer County that grew to 81,190 acres after a flare-up Friday.
In Colorado Springs, a fire that started in the popular Waldo Canyon hiking area quickly grew to 2,000 acres. Police went door-to-door and drove through neighborhoods using loudspeakers in forced evacuations.
“All west-side residents need to be ready for evacuation,” Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach told The Gazette. “This is serious.”
As a huge column of smoke rose over western Colorado Springs, The Gazette reported deer and other animals running through neighborhoods to flee the fire. As many as 2,300 residents have been evacuated.
Farther north, an Estes Park cabin caught fire near the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park just after noon. Within a few hours, the fire had destroyed 21 structures.
“Today put things on a whole new level,” said Lois Ivey, who was visiting from Florida and had been watching the High Park fire events over the past week. “It hit home when it burned a residential area. It’s very tense.”
Helicopters that had been fighting the High Park fire jumped over to Estes Park for initial attack.
In southern Colorado, officials said the Weber fire spread rapidly, growing to about 6,000 acres, and was backing down a hill toward the town of Mancos.
Near Durango, firefighters battled the Stateline fire as gusty winds from a nearby thunderstorm in Farmington, N.M., fanned flames.
“You can sit by and do nothing, but that’s not our nature,” Segin said. “We just have to hope that moisture will come.”
