Colorado Wildfire Grows

A fire near New Castle increased in size Tuesday and threatened up to 200 homes in the Canyon Creek area west of Glenwood Springs.

Residents in 90 homes were evacuated Tuesday afternoon and 110 more could be asked to do the same, fire officials said late Tuesday afternoon.

The fire, three miles east of New Castle, has burned 1,060 acres, more than five times the fire’s size Monday night, according to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department.

Officials said aerial surveys helped more accurately estimate the size, but wind gusts of up to 20 mph fanned flames and pushed the fire into new territory.

The wildfire, sparked by a lightning strike Sunday night, was first reported around 1:30 p.m. Monday.

The evacuations include 60 residents told to leave around 2 p.m. Tuesday and 30 residents advised to leave around 8 p.m. Monday.

Because of the evacuations, U.S. Highway 6 was closed from the east end of County Road 240 to the Storm King Trailhead at the Canyon Creek exit off Interstate 70. Traffic on I-70 is not affected. Highway 6 between Canyon Creek and New Castle was reopened Tuesday, after it was closed Monday because of heavy smoke.

Homes in the Canyon Creek Estates and Canyon Creek subdivision were threatened, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said.

Vallario, who lives along the I-70 frontage road in Canyon Creek, said his wife had packed up valuables in case he had to order more evacuations.

Vallario said rumors that officials planned to evacuate the entire town of New Castle or the city of Glenwood Springs were untrue.

“That’s just totally false,” he said. “We have no plans to evacuate either town. There is a lot of smoke in Glenwood Springs, but the fire is still a ways away, and we think we can keep it away.”

The Garfield County Public Health office said in a news release Tuesday that light to heavy smoke could settle in the valleys overnight and be visible in the morning hours. It advised residents to remain indoors if the smoke becomes too thick or if they have any illness that could be affected.

While the American Red Cross opened a shelter at Riverside Middle School in New Castle, no one spent the night there Monday, and none had signed in late Tuesday afternoon, according to shelter workers.

Fire Commander Mike Piper said the fire is estimated to be 15 to 20 percent contained. Neither Vallario nor Piper would estimate when the fire might be contained.

A backburn was planned to help keep the fire from crossing Canyon Creek Road, which would increase the threat to homes on top of a ridge, Piper said.

“This is an extremely rugged fire; it’s not easy to fight,” Piper said. “It’s rocky and cavernous, so the air show is really the name of the game. Some of the pinyon junipers were apparently about 60 feet tall, which is just unheard of. That made it hard to get a handle on the fire when it crowned from tree to tree that high.”

Piper said two of the approximately 200 people fighting the blaze have been injured: One with a hand injury and a second with heat exhaustion.

No structures have been damaged, Piper said, but the fire has burned within a half-mile of some homes.

Eric Williams, who owns 100 acres where the fire started and allowed firefighters to use his land, called the fire a “disaster.”

“All that elk habitat back in there was really good,” Williams said as he videotaped planes dumping slurry and helicopters dipping into his irrigation water and the Colorado River. “It’s just gone.”

For more information on the blaze, call (970) 309-0347 or (970) 319-9562.