Firefighters on the ground took advantage of cooler weather and calmer winds today to corral the Maxwell fire burning in the Arapaho National Forest in northwest Boulder County.
Sunday evening the U.S. Forest Service estimated the fire’s size at 100 acres, later reduced it to 75 acres. This afternoon, after doing a calculation from the air, the U.S. Forest Service said it was about 60 acres.
The fire is about 40 percent contained. Brian Oliver, wildand fire fuels management supervisor for the city of Boulder, described the fire as “real active.”
The fire was first reported as about an acre Sunday at 5 p.m. in the 4000 block of Lefthand Canyon Road, the quickly blew up in the high winds.
“It started small like they all do and it got in the wind,” Oliver said. “It was pretty intense.”
Crews worked today to hem in the blaze south of Spruce Gulch, west of Carnage Canyon, east of Castle Gulch, the Forest Service stated.
Forest Service spokeswoman Elsha Kirby said the goal is to keep flames north of Lefthand Canyon Road, because to the south of Lefthand Canyon Road is steeper, riskier terrain.
“We’re just going to do the best job we can fighting fire and doing it safely and protecting people and their homes,” she said.
Back burns helped stop the fire’s progression overnight, as better weather helped ground crews gain ground today in the steep, rocky terrain, the Forest Service said in an afternoon update.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The Boulder Office of Emergency Management noted this morning that the fire started about a quarter of a mile from a shooting range.
Kirby—Forest said this afternoon that “nothing in our evidence so far would preclude that the fire was caused by target shooting.”
The name Lefthand Canyon fire was taken in March, when a fire by that name consumed 622 acres and forced the evacuations of hundreds of residents.
The Forest Service report of that fire noted, “The cause of the fire is not definitive, but based on the activities in the area it is likely it was caused by shooting.”
The Forest Service in April issued a restriction on shooting in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest, requiring shooters to use approved manufactured targets that would lessen the likelikhood of sparking a fire.
Oliver said conditions ares ripe to burn in the area.
“There’s just a massive accumulation of fuel for the fire just available and ready to burn,” he said. “When you have it hot, dry and windy it’s just ready to go.”
About 200 firefighters from 14 agencies were working in familiar territory for many of them. The Maxwell fire is the third blaze this year in the scenic foothills and rugged canyonlands northwest of Boulder.
The area is immediately northwest of where the Fourmile Canyon fire burned 6,200 acres and 160 homes last September.
About 340 residences were notified Sunday night that a mandatory evacuation might be necessary, but the Forest Service said today that only about two homes were eventually evacuated.
Several roads have been closed or restricted to local residents.
Large wildfires have burned more than 29,000 acres in Colorado so far this month, according to the federal wildland fire reports.
In all of 2009, the last year for which numbers are available, Colorado lost 41,430 acres to wildland fires, according to the Colorado State Forest Service. In 2002, a record year, the state lost 244,252 acres.
The risk of a large fire will remain high or moderate across most of eastern Colorado thorugh at least next Saturday, according to the Rocky Mountain Area Coordiantion Center in Lakewood.
In Boulder County, there is a 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday, but with a high of near 88 degrees and northwest winds between 6 and 11 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Winds could pick up Tuesday evening, with gusts up to 21 mph, forecasters said.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
