Extent of fire damage in Rocky Mountain National Park grows clearer
Courtesy RMNP
The East Troublesome Fire has burned more then 33 square miles in Rocky Mountain National Park, but the Holzwarth Historic Site has remained untouched.
Of the 192,574 acres burned by the East Troublesome Fire, 21,307 acres have burned in Rocky. The Cameron Peak Fire has burned an additional 7,485 acres of the 265,769-acre national park.
Rocky officials said that there appears to be some structure loss on the west side of the part, but initial assessment indicates that it is minimal. Spokesperson Kyle Patterson said the park plans to release more information on lost structures later this week.
Patterson also confirmed that the Holzwarth Historic Site has not been burned. The fire was still a mile south of the access road to Holzwarth when the weather changed Saturday.
On Monday, the trailhead at Adams Falls outside Grand Lake did not appear to be affected.
The extent of the ecological damage to the park is not yet known. Patterson said that the park would be pulling together a Burn Area Emergency Response team to answer that question once things are more stable.
On the west side of the park known as the Grand Zone, resources were focused on life and safety priorities along with ongoing evacuations Thursday. Numerous trees were down on the west side of Trail Ridge Road, north of the Green Mountain Trailhead, blocking that area as a means to evacuate late on Oct. 20 when the fire exploded by 100,000 acres.
Resources have been assigned to the Holzwarth Historic Site area of the Kawuneeche Valley to begin prep work in the event the fire crosses the access road about one mile south. All of Rocky Mountain National Park remains closed.
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