The Pearl fire burning in Larimer County did not grow despite high winds Tuesday, charring 128 acres as fire crews reached 5% containment.
The wildfire sparked on private property west of Fort Collins around 11 a.m. Monday and is human-caused, according to county officials.
Investigators spoke to the man who caused the fire but are not releasing any other information about how the fire started, Sheriff John Feyen said at a Tuesday afternoon briefing. No structures have been damaged in the blaze.
High winds from thunderstorms grounded firefighting helicopters and air tankers on Tuesday afternoon and were blowing the fire toward neighborhoods, said incident commander Mike Smith, but that’s what firefighters prepared for.
“We knew the forecast and that’s why we put so much emphasis on prioritizing neighborhoods and tried to secure fire lines,” Smith said at the briefing.
More than 2,000 contacts are still under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders, with including Green Mountain to the north, Sheep Creek and Red Feather Lakes to the east, Poudre Canyon Road to the south and Middle Mountain to the west.
The Lake Erie and Mitchell Ditch areas remain under voluntary evacuation orders.
There are 150 firefighters battling the flames and crews will continue to work overnight,
