Loveland Colorado Fire: Reservoir Road Fire Destroys Homes

by Amy Judd | September 13, 2010 at 10:12 am

3517 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

A Fire Burning Near Loveland Colorado Has Burned Two Homes, Several Trailers and Vehicles, and Four Structures

After the Fourmile fire in Boulder Colorado, another fire, known as the Reservoir Road Fire, is burning west of Loveland and has destroyed some buildings already.

9News.com reports that people were forced to evacuate their homes on Sunday when the fire started around 10am near the Flatiron Reservoir. The fire is estimated to be about 600 to 700 acres in size, which is down from an earlier estimate of 1,000 to 2,000.

The fire is currently 10 percent contained, but fire officials hope to have the fire under control by the end of Monday.

"Absolutely, we need to control it today," Major Bill Nelson of the Larimer County Sheriff's office said. "And assuming the weather holds like it is, and we can get the air resources up in the air, I think we have enough resources to do that, but it's dependant on what happens with the weather."

Dry conditions may hamper the fire efforts, but strong winds should not be a factor. Fire lines have already been broken however, so that could cause concern as the day goes on. At this time it is thought that the fire was started by humans, but no official reason has been released.

The fire is not very aggressive, but the Associated Press reports that there are about six to 10 homes in about half a mile of the fire that are at risk.

On Sunday about 350 homes near the Pinewood Reservoir were forced to evacuate, and about 400 more are on evacuation alert. It is not expected that those who have been evacuated will be allowed to return home on Monday. Homes in the Pinewood Reservoir and Saddlenotch areas are at the greatest risk at this time according to KWCH.com.

"All of the sudden there was a wall of smoke and fire coming at us, and you think you're ready to evacuate, but you're not," said Mary Moser.

"We watched our neighbors' home go up in flames," said Chris Roncka, another evacuee. "We had to go out the upper road and out."

On Monday crews will continue to work on the ground and attack the fire from the air with helicopters and airplanes.