No new growth for wildfire burning in northern Colorado

LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — The wildfire burning in Larimer County remains at 128 acres and hasn’t grown, according to an update from the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Tuesday. The fire is still 0% contained.

Mike Smith, incident manager for the fire with the USFS, said discrepancies in reports of the size of the fire stem from air mapping the fire using infrared imaging. He said multiple aircraft, including helicopters and a scooper, are being used to put water on the fire, but he added that high winds Tuesday afternoon present challenges to firefighting efforts.

Smith said crews are focusing on the east side of the fire, which is closest to homes. When it comes to making a decision on where to focus crews’ efforts, he said it’s based on what areas of value are at risk.

Some mandatory evacuations for the Pearl Fire were changed to voluntary evacuations on Tuesday afternoon.

“We know we’ve displaced a lot of people from their homes, and that can be unsettling,” Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen said Tuesday afternoon. He said they’re trying to get people back into their homes as soon as possible.

The U.S. Forest Service took over command of the Pearl Fire on Tuesday morning. The wildfire was first reported just after 11 a.m. Monday in the Crystal Lakes area about five miles northwest of Red Feather Lakes.

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said the fire originated on private property and was human-caused. On Tuesday afternoon, Feyen said his office has identified and spoken to the person who caused the fire but will not be releasing details as the investigation is ongoing.

On Tuesday morning, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman said the fire didn’t grow overnight. There are 75 firefighters working on the ground, first focusing efforts on the eastern side of the fire to protect homes in that direction. The spokesman said air support on Monday put down a line of retardant around most of the fire.

On Tuesday afternoon, mandatory evacuations were changed to voluntary evacuations for residents north of County Road 80C to the state line.

• Crystal Lakes, south of Black Mountain and north of Lake Erie.
• Near Highway 14 (Poudre Canyon Road) on the south side of Black Mountain, and west toward County Road 103. 

Residents are being told to evacuate immediately.

• The area of Lake Erie and Mitchell Ditch.
• North of Black Mountain to the Wyoming state line.

An area of Wyoming directly across the state line was also under voluntary evacuation status: from the state line to Sportsman Lake Road on the north, Ashby Loop on the west and Highway 287 on the east.

Residents in voluntary evacuation zones are told to gather their belongings and prepare to leave.

The Larimer County evacuation map is below:

An overnight evacuation center has been set up at Cache la Poudre Middle School at 3515 County Road 54G, Laporte. 

For small animal sheltering needs, contact NOCO Humane at 970-226-3647. 

A large animal evacuation center is open at The Ranch in Loveland, 5280 Arena Circle.

For more information on evacuations and community resources, call the Joint Information Center at 970-980-2500.