Environment

Boulder Colorado Fourmile Fire September 8 Update: Videos, Map

by Amy Judd | September 8, 2010 at 07:44 am

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Update: 3:29 pm PT

The Fourmile Fire has now destroyed about 140 structures and damaged 24, and it is being estimated that it could take about 10 days to contain the blaze.

Four people still remain unaccounted for.

It is expected that cooler temperatures overnight and an increase in humidity will help firefighters do their jobs, although containment is still at zero percent.

Previous Story From Wednesday Morning:

The Fourmile Fire Burning in Boulder Colorado Has Now Burned 6,100 Acres and Over 90 Structures Have Been Lost - 54 of Those Are Residences

The Fourmile Fire is the worst wildfire in recent history in Boulder reports the Daily Camera, and on Tuesday night the fire was zero percent contained, so conditions are expected to get worse.

At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Boulder County Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said that eight people are unaccounted for who did not evacuate following evacuation orders. About 200 firefighters are on the scene and are going to continue to dig fire lines during the day.

On Tuesday night at 6pm a federal incident team took over the job of battling the fire as county resources ran out.

Members of a federal "Type 1" incident management team -- which is the same level that responded to Hurricane Katrina -- are scheduled to arrive today to help the firefighting effort.

Some information regarding the structures that have been lost have now been released to the media, and the Camera reports that most of the homes lost were located in the Gold Hill area, but a full investigation has not been conducted at this time.

Homes on the list included several on Dixon, Emerson Gulch, Melvina Hill, Nancy Mine and Sunshine Canyon roads and Fourmile Canyon Drive. Leif Steiner, who lived at 1103 Melvina Hill Road, found out late Tuesday that his home was among those on the list.

"I assumed it because I literally got out a minute before my house was engulfed in flames," he said. "Embers were landing on me as I left."

A lot of the historic district in Gold Hill is still standing at this time.

The Fourmile Fire broke out at about 10am on Monday close to the 7100 block of Fourmile Canyon Road and is thought to have been caused during an accident when a car hit a propane tank.

No one has died or been seriously injured in the fire, but some are refusing evacuation orders and are deciding to stay in their homes.

The terrain where the fire is burning is very difficult and rugged, but it is hoped that the fire will be under some control on Wednesday.

The primary goal for firefighters is to protect structures and to keep the fire in the perimeter that is bounded on the north by Lefthand Canyon; on the east by Poorman Road, Sunshine Canyon and Pine Brook Hills; on the south by Boulder Creek; and on the west by Mount Alto Park.

Some showers could fall on Wednesday, but winds could get up to about 30mph by the evening.

The Colorado Department of Public Health has issued a Wildfire Smoke Health Advisory for the Northern Front Range, which includes Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties.

There is a meeting planned for residents on Wednesday night at 7:30pm at the Coors Event Center on the University of Colorado Campus.

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Bob in CA (not verified)

at 08:17 on September 8th, 2010

There is a Type 1 and a Type 2 team assigned. Katrina had dozens of teams, not just one Type 1 team.

DaveC (not verified)

at 08:58 on September 8th, 2010

Umm same type of response team as in "an Incident Management Team (IMT)" was responded to Katrina. The devastation from Katrina and the response to it was on a vastly larger scale than the 4 Mile Canyon Fire. Several states were affected by Katrina, 1,800 people died, $ 80 billion in damages. The 4 Mile file is tragic, but much less so than Katrina.