Wildfire north of Silverthorne ‘under control;’ all lanes open at Colorado Highway 9 | SummitDaily.com
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Wildfire north of Silverthorne ‘under control;’ all lanes open at Colorado Highway 9

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Libby Stanford
  

Lt. Paul Camillo of Summit Fire & EMS digs a fire line in an effort to contain a wildland fire 13 miles north of Silverthorne on Saturday, October 24. Colorado is currently having one of the worst fire seasons on record, with the three largest fires in the state’s history developing this year. Snow and colder temperatures are expected to help in fire fighting efforts starting Saturday evening into earlier next week.
Photo by Jason Connolly / Jason Connolly Photography

11:04 a.m. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office is reporting that the “117 Fire” is under control and was started by a blown transformer. No structures were threatened by the fire. The Colorado Department of Transportation has stated that all lanes are open on Colorado Highway 9 at Heeney Road.

9:25 a.m. Colorado Highway 9 is now open to single lane traffic in both directions, according to an update from the Colorado Department of Transportation at 9:18 a.m.

Summit County remains under a red flag warning until 7 p.m. Saturday.

9:12 a.m. Zach Ostrander, who was hunting along a ridgeline to the east of Colorado Highway 9, said he saw the fire break out around 7 a.m.

“It quickly caught some brush and went into some willows and there’s a little island of Cottonwood trees, right there,” he said. “Then there was a pretty quick run of grass fire that was headed towards a ditch of willows. If that had caught it would have been bad. (Firefighters) did a pretty good job of tamping that out really quick.”

At around 9 a.m. Ostrander said crews appeared to be cleaning up and the fire was out.

“The fire department and police got on it quick,” he said. “They do a great job.”

9:04 a.m. The fire is “under control” and crews don’t expect it to grow, according to Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons.

It spanned about 1 acre and started near milemarker 117, he said. The preliminary case for the fire was a blown transformer.

Summit Fire & EMS, Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Grand County Fire Protection District and Red, White and Blue Fire District all responded to the scene.

Crews are now “mopping up” the fire, FitzSimons said.

A sign along Colorado Highway 9 north of Silverthorne alerts drivers that the road is closed ahead because of a wildfire.
Photo by Jason Connolly / Jason Connolly Photography


8:39 a.m. Colorado Highway 9 at Heeney Road north of Silverthorne is closed in both directions due to a wildfire, according to an alert from the Colorado Department of Transportation.

The Kremmling Fire Protection District reported a wildland fire call near milepost 128 on Highway 9 at about 7:40 a.m. Saturday.

According to the district’s Facebook post, the fire started under a telephone pole and spanned a quarter-acre but was “moving fast” at the time.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

HAPPENING NOW 🚒🔥Call Type: WILDLAND FIRELocation: MILEPOST 128 HWY 9Call Notes: FIRE BETWEEN GREEN MTN RESERVOIR AND…

Posted by Kremmling Fire Protection District on Saturday, October 24, 2020

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