The crash of a slurry bomber Saturday slowed efforts to extinguish two rapidly growing wildfires in northern Colorado, including a blaze in Rocky Mountain National Park that covered about 1,500 acres by late afternoon.
The 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.
About 12:30 p.m., the tanker plane tore 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, and the cause of the crash is under investigation, Segin said.
As a precaution, authorities grounded three other tanker planes that each can drop more than 1,000 gallons of water at a time, Segin said. Firefighters were using two helicopters.
Meanwhile, the Cow Creek Trail wildfire in Rocky Mountain National Park, reported to be 250 acres Friday night, covered about 1,500 acres, said Kyle Patterson, spokeswoman for the National Park Service.
Patterson noted that the numbers did not necessarily reflect rapid growth, because intense smoke made estimates difficult Friday and infrared readings improved the accuracy of Saturday’s estimate.
Erratic winds continued to drive the fire to the west, north and northeast in a remote area of the park about 7 miles from the nearest road, Patterson said.
Because of the hazardous conditions, no more ground crews were sent into the area, she said.
They will focus on protecting the small community of Glen Haven, which is about 6 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 campers to hike out.
A second fire called the Round Mountain Fire broke out west of Loveland and south of U.S. 34, about 4 miles west of the Dam Store. The fire grew from about 3 acres to 150 acres Saturday. It was reported 75 percent contained at 7:30 p.m.
In southern Colorado, the 630-acre Parkdale 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 a 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 Friday, the statement said.
Even farther south, a wildfire in Great Sand Dunes National Park that started June 6 continued to burn Saturday. The National Park Service says the Medano fire has burned about 8 1/2 square miles so far, though firefighters say the blaze is contained and doesn’t threaten structures.
Most of the park remains open, though smoke clouds were visible in parts of the San Luis Valley.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
