Firefighters on Sunday were battling difficult terrain to establish a fire line around a wildfire burning next to the historic Manitou Incline.
“It is very rugged and very steep,” said Ralph Bellah, spokesman for the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. “There are three drainages and three ridges involved.”
Authorities believe that although it was 80 percent contained by midday Sunday, the fire will continue to burn within the line for several days.
“It won’t be out for days,” said Barbara Timock, a Forest Service spokeswoman.
Bellah said investigators have determined that the fire was “human-caused” but declined to elaborate.
“A human started it; it wasn’t lightning-caused,” Bellah said. “It’s under investigation.”
The incline was originally built in 1906 and in later years was the bed used by a cable car to take visitors to the top of Rocky Mountain. The cable car stopped running in 1990. The fire is just to the north of the incline.
The fire was first reported Friday afternoon and was pushed by strong winds to approximately 30 acres.
Bellah said fire crews need to cover an area about six times that to fight the fire.
It is burning in ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and gambel oak.
The fire started on private land and then spread onto national forest lands.
A second fire in El Paso County, near Ellicott, damaged at least one residence and outbuilding, and burned a llama.
It was brought under control Saturday evening but flared up again briefly Sunday morning.
The Ellicott Fire Protection District was on the scene of the reported 7:04 a.m. flareup within a matter of minutes, and the fire was back under control, said Lt. Lari Sevene of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
