Update: Additional evacuations ordered due to East Troublesome Fire
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The sun sets Thursday on the smoke plume from the East Troublesome Fire as seen from Hot Sulphur Springs.
Emma Trainor / etrainor@skyhinews.com
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closures
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The East Troublesome Fire is seen behind elk mountain.
Courtesy Maria Trail
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Smoke rises from the East Troublesome Fire near Middle Park Health's Granby Campus on Friday.
Courtesy Derek Ortner
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The plume of smoke from the East Troublesome Fire can be seen from Kremmling on Friday.
Reader submitted
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Extended pre-evacuation area
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New mandatory evacuation area
7:20 p.m.: A mandatory fire evacuation has been ordered for the Kinney Creek and Sheriff’s Creek area.
4:50 p.m.: Due to the growth of the fire, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office has expanded the pre-evacuation area to the west side of US Highway 34 and east of Highway 125. Go to http://www.co.grand.co.us/1354/East-Troublesome-Fire for the most recent evacuation updates.
4:30 p.m.: The East Troublesome fire has now burned an estimated 7,871 acres. The fire is actively burning to the east, northeast and producing heavy smoke.
The fire is growing near Elk Mountain Trailhead and the administrative boundary between the Parks/Sulphur Ranger Districts. It has not crossed Highway 125 and no additional evacuations have been ordered as of 4:30 p.m. Friday.
A Red Flag Warning is in effect for the East Troublesome Fire through late Saturday afternoon. Weather today includes westerly winds at 15 to 20 mph, gusts up to 35 mph, relative humidity in the teens and temperatures in the 50s and 60s. There is little chance for moisture over the weekend.
Original: After moving at a rate of up to 4 miles an hour Thursday, the East Troublesome Fire had grown to 5,684 acres.
The sheriff’s office said that all current evacuations and pre-evacuations remain in place and will be reviewed around 6 p.m. today, while the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service have announced extensive public lands closures.
The blaze started Wednesday afternoon north of Parshall near Grimes Peak on Arapaho National Forest land and remains 0% contained. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Over 80 people, several tankers and helicopters are fighting the fire, which is expected to continue moving eastward today. The Northern Rockies Type 2 Team 6 Incident Management Team took command of the fire Thursday morning.
Crews spent Thursday trying to secure the southwestern edge of the fire with aircraft dropping retardant and water. That work will continue today.
The fire has prompted a closure on public lands north of Hot Sulphur Springs and east to Grand Lake.
The closure applies to lands managed by the Arapaho National Forest, Routt National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management’s Kremmling Field Office.
The closure area includes the southern Troublesome area west of US Highway 125 and north to Willow Creek Pass. Also included are public lands east of the US 125 and US Highway 40 junction to US 34 and north to Grand Lake.
Key trailheads and landmarks in the closure area include Wheatley, Elk Mountain, Bill Miller, Trail Creek, Willow Creek Pass, Illinois Pass, Stillwater Pass, North Supply, Supply Creek, Idleglen and Willow Creek Reservoir. The Bowen Gulch Protection Area and the southern portion of the Never Summer Wilderness Area are included in the closure.
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