Hot and dry conditions continued to elevate the threat of wildfires on Independence Day as firefighters tamed some small burns across Colorado and monitored the behavior of others.
Northeast of Durango, the Dead Horse fire in the Weminuche Wilderness Area grew to 50 acres and continued to burn eastward, said Pamella Wilson, fire information officer for the San Juan Public Lands Center.
On Wednesday, officials allowed the fire to burn while maintaining helicopter surveillance over the area, Wilson said.
Depending on the weather, the fire might burn for several more weeks, she said.
Separately, officials of the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management unit said the Berry Creek fire that had burned between 6 and 8 acres near Edwards in Eagle County was being contained by crews. The fire came within a mile of homes.
Wednesday, crews worked to put a line around the fire, dealt with hot spots and performed other “mopping up” tasks, said Lee Ann Loupe, spokeswoman for the interagency fire unit. The fire was not actively burning new ground, she said.
Officials also contained two other small wildfires, one near Red Cliff and another about 10 miles east of Aspen.
Additional local news briefs:
ASPEN
Clintons coming for events Saturday
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton will join husband and former President Bill Clinton in Aspen this Saturday, the Aspen Daily News reported Wednesday.
The former president is scheduled to participate in the Aspen Ideas Festival. Hillary Clinton will attend two fundraising events. The first is a cocktail hour at Matsuhisa restaurant, and the second is a party at Belly Up – both owned by Michael Goldberg.
“She has the opportunity to meet him (Bill) here and also host a fundraiser given by the people who live here and frequent Aspen,” Goldberg said.
Tickets to the cocktail hour are $1,000, while entrance to the Belly Up event will cost $2,300.
CLEAR CREEK CANYON
One killed when car rolls into Clear Creek
One person died Wednesday afternoon when the car he was driving went off the side of U.S. 6 west of Golden and rolled down an embankment into Clear Creek.
The 2004 Chevrolet coupe landed on its top. Rescuers found Samuel C. Rodriquez, 22, of Thornton and Samantha Parry, 23, of Westminster in the creek, said Trooper Gilbert Mares, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
Rodriquez was dead at the scene, and Parry, who suffered minor injuries, was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony Central Hospital, Mares said.
The crash closed U.S. 6 until about 4:45 p.m. Alcohol, drugs and speed are not suspected as factors in the accident, authorities said, but “inattentive” driving is.
STATEWIDE
362 DUI arrests made in holiday crackdown
Officials from 41 law enforcement agencies throughout Colorado had made 362 DUI arrests as of Wednesday afternoon as part of a stepped-up campaign of holiday enforcement against drunken driving.
The campaign started Friday and ends today.
Motorists can report drunken and aggressive drivers by calling *277, a free cellphone call, State Patrol officials said.
COLORADO SPRINGS
School-shooting plan called only research
Attorneys for two teens accused of planning a deadly attack at a high school claim the teens were simply researching a paper on school shootings and never intended to carry out the plan.
The 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl were arrested before a May 4 pep rally at Harrison High School, where police thought they would carry out their plan. Police said they planned to attack from either end of the gymnasium, shooting as many students as they could.
During a preliminary hearing in the case Tuesday, the girl’s attorney, Bill Holtz, said her alleged “hit list” contained names from a television show. He also questioned a school resource officer about whether weapons or other materials were found during searches of their homes.
“There was absolutely nothing by way of evidence found to carry out any plan, was there?” Holtz asked.
“No,” said Officer Brian Strickland, who found plans about the attack in the boy’s notebook along with a school floor plan.
Strickland said they did find a gun in the girl’s house that belonged to her father, who is in the Army. It wasn’t confiscated.
GRAND JUNCTION
Body discovered in Colorado River
Members of Mesa County Search and Rescue found a body in a channel of the Colorado River on Wednesday as they cleared out rubber ducks sent floating down the river as part of a fundraiser.
The full-clothed, adult male appeared to have been in the water for several days, said Heather Gierhart, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
With no missing persons reports on men, it’s unclear how the body ended up in the channel.
“Its hard to say if something happened to him on edge of the water or if he floated down the river,” Gierhart said.
Mesa County authorities in the past two months have pulled five bodies from rivers or canals, including a man and a woman who apparently drowned in the Gunnison River as one tried to rescue the other.
