Colorado Wildfires Ease as Cool Weather Moves In

Two Colorado wildfires were close enough to being contained Saturday that officials were considering scaling back the number of crews fighting the blazes that have burned 21,000 acres and destroyed 57 homes and other buildings.

“We’re working on demobilization of crews since the fires haven’t moved at all today,” said Jerry Oakley, fire information officer for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.

More than 1,700 firefighters from local, state and federal agencies have contained 50% of the Hi Meadow fire southwest of Denver and 80% of the Bobcat fire northwest of the city.

Both blazes started Monday and burned out of control for days, fueled by dry timber and fanned by high winds.

The flames eased Thursday when a cold front moved into the area.

Cooler temperatures and calm winds combined with rain and light snow in the Colorado high country over the last 48 hours, helping crews thwart the fires, Oakley said.

About 800 residents evacuated by both fires were allowed to return to their homes “without restrictions,” he said.

But he cautioned that much of the recent moisture fell east of the Continental Divide and that western Colorado remains vulnerable to fires.

Higher temperatures were expected to arrive, and residents were warned to be extremely careful with open fires.

As firefighting efforts progressed, police at the Bobcat fire said they wanted to question a local man about an open fire he may have been burning that could have started the blaze.

Larimer County Sheriff’s Deputy Cindy Gordon said no charges or warrants have been filed against the 33-year-old man, who has so far declined to be interviewed by police.

Gordon said anyone tied to the fire’s ignition could face criminal charges ranging from violating a state ban on open fires to arson and starting a fire on federal land.

“If we can establish who set the fire and have probable cause, we will make an arrest,” Gordon said, noting that a fire starter could also face possible civil lawsuits from private landowners who lost property in the fire.

The Bobcat blaze, at 10,600 acres, is the largest recorded fire in the Roosevelt National Forest, and officials expect to have it 100% contained by this morning.