Tag: wildfire
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El Paso County issues pre-evacuation warning by 24 fire as southern Colorado cities break monthly highs again
High winds and hot, dry temperatures caused the wildfire along Colorado 115 to grow by almost 100 acres on Saturday as at least three southern Colorado cities broke all-time monthly highs for the second time in two days. The conditions posed a challenge to crews on the ground for a fire that has already proved…
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Residents express concern during wildfire forum
Dan Swallow watched his cabin burn in 2019 during the Cameron Peak Fire. Erik Stone spoke of his cousin’s home that burned to the ground during the Marshall Fire in 2021. Swallow, director of the county’s community development department, is also a member of the Wildfire Resiliency Code Board; Stone is a Teller County commissioner.…
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2 arrested after Huerfano County wildfire amid red flag warning
Huerfano County sheriff’s deputies arrested two people on Tuesday after they allegedly started a wildfire during a red flag warning on Feb. 24, according to a news release by the office. Firefighters from five departments and several other emergency agencies spent nearly 12 hours putting out the 50-acre blaze that began around 3 a.m. “Without…
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‘Dynamic, rapidly spreading’ grass fire in Denver metro injured five people
A vegetation fire that sparked in the Thornton area of the Denver metro on February 25 was thankfully stamped out that same day despite Red Flag conditions, but not before injuring five people. During a press conference about the blaze, Thornton Fire Chief Stephen Kelley got into the details about what happened. The fire sparked…
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Grass wildfire in Douglas County reaches 500 acres, 100% contained
Responders reached 100% containment on a grass fire near Colorado Highway 83 in Douglas County on Thursday. The wildfire, which spread rapidly and prompted mandatory evacuations near Franktown, sparked near Dahlberg and Lake Gulch Roads, the Franktown Fire District said just after 1 p.m. on social media. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office correspondingly issued an…
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Fire near Limon forced evacuations, but under control
A vegetation fire just southwest of Limon broke out Tuesday afternoon, reaching several miles in length and jumping Highway 181, according to fire tracking site WatchDuty. An evacuation order was issued for the area from County Road 2T to County Road 22 and north to County Road 2W Tuesday afternoon as the fire moved toward…
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Relief at Lee fire in Colorado continues as long-term wildlife habitat reclamation become priority
The Lee fire burned more than 137,000 acres of land southwest of Meeker this summer. Some of the land charred in northwest Colorado was prime grazing land ranchers and land-users utilize for livestock feeding and wildlife rely on throughout the year. As relief efforts continue, ranchers and officials with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife have…
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Gov. Jared Polis urges Trump to reverse FEMA disaster aid denials
Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are calling on President Donald Trump to reverse federal denial of Colorado’s requests for federal disaster declarations tied to recent wildfires and flooding. Polis’ office said he received two denial letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency late Saturday. The letters followed requests…
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Xcel president says Polis criticism ‘uninformed,’ most to get power back by 10 p.m.
As tens of thousands of Xcel Energy customers remained without power Saturday morning, officials said criticism about what some called the organization’s lack of communication was unwarranted. Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy Colorado, said that the company had communicated with customers as early as last week about potential power shutoffs, and had worked with…
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Polis calls out Xcel as provider says work to restore power delayed as late as 10 p.m. Friday
Gov. Jared Polis called out Xcel Energy Friday afternoon, saying the utility had to do a better job at communicating how long its outages would last. The statement comes at the end of a week of severe wind in the Front Range, with Xcel intentionally turning off the power to at least 48,000 customers on…