High winds were expected this afternoon in the area of the 52-acre Bobcat Ridge fire southwest of Fort Collins, but officials said they expect 100 percent containment by nightfall.
The fire is about 4 miles west of Masonville, east of Spruce Mountain, in mixture of national forest land, private land and the highly popular Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, owned by the city of Fort Collins.
As of 3:30 p.m., the fire was 50 percent contained. Although half contained, incident commanders expect that firefighting efforts will have to continue for a couple of more days.
Reghan Cloudman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said that about 50 firefighters — mostly from Larimer County and the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests — would climb into the rugged terrain to try to establish a perimeter around the fire.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said that although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, it is believed to have been human caused.
The city of Fort Collins had recently closed trails in much of the area to protect a pair of golden eagles who are trying to nest in the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area.
The eagles started building a nest on a hogback directly across the valley from the fire, said Rick Bachand, senior environmental planner with the Fort Collins Natural Areas Program.
Bachand said it appears the eagles also may be establishing a second nest nearby. They have been removing some materials from the large nest they’ve built and flying with the material to another location.
Bachand said that given the fire, the eagles, for the time being, have probably “hunkered down” for their own protection.
“It’s a very rugged area. It is steep and hilly with canyon-like valleys,” said Bachand of the terrain in the area of the fire. He said there are not that many trees. Instead, there are large areas of rocks with grasses and shrubs between the rocky terrain.
Bachand noted that in June 2000, the Bobcat Gulch fire in the region burned 24,000 acres.
Eloise Campanella, spokeswoman for the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, said this morning that the fire was burning in heavy fuels, dead trees and logs from the Bobcat Gulch fire of 2000.
She said firefighters would continue with line construction and mop-up operations in hopes of getting the fire contained. But she said they are hampered by the terrain and difficult access.
The fire was reported at about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday. Units fighting the fire Tuesday included Loveland Fire and Rescue, the Poudre Fire Authority, the Big Thompson Canyon Fire Protection District, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Emergency Services, the Berthoud Fire Protection District, and U.S. Forest Service personnel.
Smoke was visible and could be smelled in Loveland and Fort Collins. No homes were evacuated or threatened because of the remote location of the fire.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
