Fire crews responded to a brush fire several miles south of Morrison Tuesday afternoon, near the intersection of U.S. 285 and State Highway 8 — a blaze that resulted in the evacuation of one residence and put dozens of other homes in the area under pre-evacuation orders.
Authorities said the fire is near Mt. Lindo and is on the south side of U.S. 285, burning in grass, brush and trees. The fire, dubbed the Snow Creek fire, is about one acre in size, according to authorities.
Later Tuesday, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said crews “continue to make progress” on the fire and that roads that had been closed in the Willow Springs neighborhood throughout the afternoon were beginning to re-open. West Metro Fire said it had 25% containment Tuesday evening.
The Fire is difficult to access, so three crews of firefighters are hiking in with handtools. In the air, Douglas County is lending its helicopter to the effort. As you can see conditions are pretty smoky for the pilot.
— WestMetroFire (@WestMetroFire)
“Crews will be on site overnight to monitor fire behavior and back at it again tomorrow to work on containment…” tweeted the sheriff’s office.
Around 60 homes in the Willow Springs development were placed on a pre-evacuation warning Tuesday afternoon while one home at the top of the ridge was fully evacuated, West Metro Fire said. Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, which had been opened as an evacuation site, closed a few hours later.
Ronda Scholting, a spokeswoman with West Metro Fire, said during a Tuesday evening press conference that “itap looking a lot better than when I first came here,” but she wouldn’t go so far as to say the fire was under control. She did, however, talk about the likelihood of “mopping up” the fire Wednesday morning.
We're responding to a brush fire in area of Hwy 285 & Hwy 8, near Mt. Lindo. Fire is on south side of highway and is spreading south. We're conducting door-to-door evacuations of homes in the area; no structures are immediately threatened. Initial info; more to come. PIO enroute.
— Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco)
West Metro Fire authorities said on Twitter that the Snow Creek fire is difficult to access, “so three crews of firefighters are hiking in with hand tools.” Douglas County is lending a helicopter to the firefighting effort.
Otherwise, firefighters were using two helicopters and two planes to drop water on the fire. Ground crews were stationed on both sides of the fire, putting in fire line to contain it.
The Snow Creek fire comes just three days after a 105-acre fire erupted in rural Larimer County, north of Wellington. That blaze closed Interstate 25 for a few hours as dry weather continues to grip Colorado.
