URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/fire/pmcolfir06-18-02.htm

June 18, 2002
    Colorado Fire Grows By 7,000 Acres; 2,000 More Told To Evacuate

   
    By Robert Weller The Associated Press
    LAKE GEORGE, Colo.   —   Authorities ordered 2,000 more people to evacuate homes south of Denver late Tuesday after a wind-fanned wildfire grew by 7,000 acres.
    Another fire in southwestern Colorado grew by more than 15 percent to 44,320 acres Tuesday. Ten hikers were evacuated by helicopter because the fire was moving their way.
    The fire in the Pike National Forest south of Denver grew to 120,000 acres. It has destroyed at least 25 houses and was about 47 percent contained.
    The fire was within 30 miles of Colorado Springs, a city of 361,000, but El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman Melissa Hartman said officials were not worried about flames reaching the city.
    At least 7,500 people living near the fire have been ordered out of their homes, including 2,000 told to evacuate at about 10 p.m. Tuesday from an area about 10 miles southwest of Castle Rock and 35 miles south of Denver.
    Others were ordered to leave homes north and east of Woodland Park Tuesday night, about 15 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. It wasn't immediately clear how many homes or people were affected.
    "This fire has been kicking our butts every day. This fire is so powerful, it dictates the wind. First it sucks it in and then pushes it out," firefighter Mat Wood said.
    The fire sent billowing smoke into the Denver area where it obscured the view of buildings and the Rockies. State health officials warned the young, the elderly and those with heart or respiratory illnesses to limit outdoor activity until smoke eased.
    State and county officials met Tuesday to discuss filing state charges against Terry Barton, accused of starting the fire. They reached no decision.
    Barton, a 38-year-old Forest Service technician, was being held without bail on federal charges of setting fire to timber in a national forest, damaging federal property and making false statements to investigators.
    She initially said she discovered the fire while patrolling on June 8. Authorities said she later confessed to starting the fire while trying to burn a letter from her estranged husband at a campfire ring.
    U.S. Attorney John Suthers has expressed doubt about Barton's story. He declined to comment beyond court filings, but noted the criminal complaint alleged she "willfully and without authority set on fire timber, underbrush, grass and other inflammable material."
    He said additional charges may be filed later.
    The fire 10 miles north of Durango in southwestern Colorado raced across another 6,000 acres Tuesday.
    Fifteen more homes on the fire's western edge were evacuated, in addition to the roughly 1,710 homes that remained under evacuation orders. The fire, which was 25 percent contained, destroyed at least 10 homes and five outbuildings.
    Some residents were allowed to go home but were told they had to leave by 9 a.m. Wednesday, said Mesa County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Dan Bender. He wasn't sure how many people were allowed back.
    Four adults and six children hiking north of the fast-moving fire were evacuated by helicopter Tuesday as the flames moved their way. They were uninjured.
    "We're dealing with a historic fire that happens once in hundreds of years," fire information officer Bill Paxton said. "We have so much live fuel."
    In both fires, the ground fuels averaged 7 percent to 8 percent humidity; kiln-dried lumber contains about 12 percent humidity, fire officials said.
    Mary Hart, tourism director of the Durango Area Chamber of Commerce, said business leaders were concerned about the potential effect the fire could have on summer tourism.
    Some people have called to inquire about canceling reservations, Hart said.
    As of Tuesday, more than 800 wildfires had burned at least 304,000 acres in Colorado this year, according to the Rocky Mountain coordinating center of the National Interagency Fire Center.