WETMORE — Crews dug fire lines around a 100-acre wildfire in southern Colorado on Monday that broke out at about the same time a small plane crashed, killing one person and injuring another.
Fire officials said they were still investigating whether the crash triggered the fire.
The plane crashed Sunday near Wetmore, 100 miles south of Denver. Authorities haven’t released the names of the two people aboard but said one was killed and the other has been hospitalized. No other details have been released.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Gregg Goodland said the fire is officially listed at zero percent contained but that crews have surrounded the blaze with an initial fire line and were shoring it up.
“We’re feeling pretty good about it right now,” he said.
Goodland said 120 ground firefighters and a helicopter were on the scene Monday. Two large fixed-wing tankers and two smaller tankers fought the fire Sunday and were still available if needed, he said.
The Custer County Sheriff’s Department said no houses have been evacuated but residents of one neighborhood in the unincorporated town of Wetmore have been placed on standby in case an evacuation was required.
