Wildfire Reignites, Threatens Buildings

A ranch, a lodge and a campground were evacuated Thursday when a 5-week-old wildfire flared up and threatened 50 structures.

Air tankers and a hand crew were en route to the 600-acre blaze in the Flattops Wilderness Area, 34 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs and 125 miles west of Denver.

The fire was sparked by lightning July 8 but had been allowed to burn because it was in a wilderness area.

“Now all of a sudden it’s taken off,” fire information officer Roger Condie said. “It was only at 200 acres” Wednesday.

The fire crept to within half a mile of Rio Blanco Ranch, Trappers Lake Lodge and Trappers Lake Campground Thursday night, fire information officer Larry Helmerick said. He did not know how many people had been evacuated.

Elsewhere in Colorado, crews contained a 100-acre wildfire that had prompted the evacuation of 90 homes 10 miles west of Denver a day earlier.

Authorities believe a passing train sparked a pair of wildfires that merged and quickly spread in the foothills, threatening an upscale neighborhood.

Investigators were still trying to determine what caused a single-engine air tanker that had been dropping retardant on the fire to veer off a runway at Jefferson County Airport on Wednesday.

Pilot Steven Whary of San Angelo, Texas, walked away from the accident, which came nearly one month after an air tanker crashed while fighting a wildfire near Rocky Mountain National Park, killing two.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating. The U.S. Forest Service also planned to look into the crash.

Near Durango, crews reinforced lines around a 1,400-acre fire on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. It was fully contained Wednesday night.

About 200 personnel were burning some of the remaining fuels.