FOXNews.com: Residents Evacuate as Colorado Fire Jumps River

FOXNews.com FOX News Channel - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Residents Evacuate as Colorado Fire Jumps River Jun 15th 2012, 09:11 BELLVUE, Colo. –  Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order Thursday banning open burning and the private use of fireworks throughout Colorado, as a fire that has killed a person and damaged more than 100 structures west of Fort Collins prompted new evacuations. The wildfire jumped the Poudre River late Thursday, sparking the evacuation orders. While acknowledging he couldn't eliminate natural causes of fire, Hickenlooper said the state could reduce the risks of more wildfires starting. "We want to make sure that everyone understands just how dry it is out there and how high is the risk," Hickenlooper said. He said his office spoke with county commissioners and didn't get pushback to the ban. He spoke as more than 1,200 people helped fight a roughly 80-square-mile fire in northern Colorado that has forced hundreds of residents to leave their homes since it started Saturday. Residents of about 80 more homes -- who had been warned to be ready to leave at a moment's notice if needed -- were told to evacuate Thursday evening after a smoldering hot spot erupted into 200-foot-high flames. Firefighters were battling to keep the fire south of the river, and so far, have been putting out isolated small fires that have ignited on the north side. The new flare-up occurred on a steep, rocky canyon wall, with trees being consumed in about 15 minutes. A thunder cell over the southwest corner of the fire created fierce downdrafts that stoked the flames and caused embers to travel across Highway 14 tracing the river, said fire spokesman Brett Haberstick. However forecasters expected humidity to rise, slowing the fire's spread, he said. The fire was started by lightning and has destroyed more than 100 structures. Larimer County sheriff's officials have determined at least 31 were homes. "Unfortunately there will be more," said Nick Christensen of the sheriff's office. The fire was 15 to 20 percent contained, fire officials said, but it has been active on its west side, where there are many beetle-killed trees. About 5 miles north of the fire, Debra Perkins and her young niece and nephew cleared brush around her family's 66-year-old cabin. The Cache la Poudre River runs between the fire and the cabin, but the smoke was heavy and flakes of ash fluttered from the sky. "It is worrisome," Perkins said. "It's gonna be what it's gonna be, but we still have a responsibility to do what we can for the cabin." Perkins' grandparents built the cabin, and their ashes are scattered nearby. Her family knows wildfire intimately. Her husband, Phillip Perkins, was the fire management officer at Yellowstone National Park for more than 21 years and helped manage the firefighting effort during the park's massive 1988 wildfire. Meanwhile, a new wildfire caused by lightning was burning on about 30 acres about a mile northwest of the town of Lake George in Park County. Residents within a mile of the fire have gotten warning calls. No mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, but some people are leaving. In southwest Colorado, a 14-square-mile fire that started May 13 northwest of Pagosa Springs sent heavy smoke into the air Thursday. It was sparked by lightning. Under the burning ban enacted Thursday, commercial fireworks displays will be allowed with approval by individual county sheriffs. The ban doesn't apply to campfires in constructed, permanent fire pits in developed campgrounds and recreation sites, and people can still use liquid- or gas-fueled stoves. The ban doesn't cover charcoal grills at homes or specific prescribed burns for agricultural purposes. The Bureau of Land Management also announced it is banning campfires in undeveloped areas on its lands along the Front Range and parts of the Eastern Plains. Smoking is banned unless within an enclosed vehicle or building. The ban applies to BLM land in Boulder, Chaffee, Custer, El Paso, Fremont, Gilpin, Huerfano, Jefferson, Lake, Larimer, Las Animas, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Park, Pueblo, Sedgwick, Teller, Washington, Weld and Yuma counties. The town of Breckenridge said Thursday it plans to cancel its July 4 fireworks. The northern Colorado fire has forced a revision of the Ride the Rockies bicycle tour. Because of concerns about smoke, cyclists will be given the option of taking a shuttle to the finishing line Friday in Fort Collins. The fire also has led to the cancellation of shows by Bruce Hornsby and others at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Poudre Canyon. The amphitheater is under evacuation orders. Mishawaka has been closed since Sunday, putting more than 50 employees temporarily out of work. Managers hope to reopen the venue June 29 with a performance by Dark Star Orchestra.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions