A non-injury crash of an airplane tanker today has slowed efforts to extinguish two rapidly growing wildfires in northern Colorado, authorities say.
A P2-Neptune tanker plane crashed through a fence at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County after a failure in its hydraulic brake system, said Steve Segin, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
Around 12:30 p.m., the tanker plane crashed through a fence and the engine caught on fire, Segin said. Airport firefighters quickly extinguished the small fire, he said.
The pilot and co-pilot of the plane were not injured in the crash. The cause of the crash is under investigation, Segin said.
Authorities grounded three other tanker planes that each can drop more than 1,000 gallons of water at a time as a precaution, Segin said. Firefighters were using two helicopters, he said.
Meantime, the Cow Creek Trail wildfire in the Rocky Mountain National Park was reported as covering 1,500 acres this afternoon, said Kyle Patterson, spokeswoman for the National Park Service.
Erratic winds continued to drive the fire to the west, north and northeast in a remote area of the park about seven miles from the nearest road, Patterson said.
Because of the hazardous conditions, no more ground crews were sent into the area, she said. Firefighters will use helicopters and air tankers to drop water on the fire.
They will focus on protecting the small community of Glen Haven, which is about six miles east of the fire, Patterson said.
Rocky Mountain National Park remains open along with most park trails, she said. Friday night, as a precaution, four park rangers hiked the North Fork Drainage of the park and asked 24 registered campers to hike out.
A second fire called the Round Mountain Fire broke out west of Loveland and south of Highway 34, about four miles west of the Damn Store. The fire grew from about three acres to 150 acres.
In Southern Colorado, a 630-acre wildfire was contained Friday.
Authorities are investigating whether the fire was ignited by the Royal Gorge train.
Mark and Leah Greksa, owners of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, said in statement released Saturday that they are cooperating with the investigation.
“This fire has been devastating to our family… has displaced people from their homes, destroyed structures and clearly hurt business…,” the statement says.
The train will resume operation by July 2, the statement said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
