Progress made on fire near Estes Park

Progress has been made in containing the fire that sprung up near Kruger Rock trail in Estes Park Valley Tuesday morning.

U.S. Forest Service reported minimal activity on the blaze overnight despite a steady breeze. The 8:30 a.m. update from Larimer County reports that the wildfire has burned 147 acres and is at 60% containment, a small growth from yesterday’s final update of 146 acres.

Firefighting personnel are on sight managing the fire throughout the day, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said. The conflagration sprung up early Tuesday morning after gusting winds blew a tree into power lines, igniting the surrounding area after electricity arced from the lines. 

An interagency resource for incident management, Inciweb’s page for the fire went live yesterday, estimating the fire will be contained by November 30. 

There have been no new evacuations or road closures since Larimer County and the USFS downgraded the region east of the fire and west of Highway 36 on Wednesday. Likewise, there have been no reports of damage to structures from the creeping fire. In the interest of public safety, Rocky Mountain National Park has closed sections near the Twin Sisters area, while the USFS has closed areas of Roosevelt Park surrounding the fire.

The fire has only claimed one life so far, CO Fire Aviation’s pilot Marc Thor Olson, who crashed Tuesday evening. Olson’s fatal crash is still under investigation and LCSO is requesting assistance from the public with any photos or videos of Olson’s plane engaging in wildfire operations from Tuesday.