Sheriff: 50-acre Deep Creek Fire burning on Forest Service lands in Summit County
A mandatory evacuation order is in place, but no lives or structures are currently threatened
Photo from Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons
Update at 6:54 p.m. There are currently about 30 firefighters on scene, along with an additional 20 individuals in support roles. Officials are also utilizing a Type 3 helicopter to drop water buckets on the fire, along with a large air tanker, according to Steve Lipsher, a spokesperson with Summit Fire & EMS. Officials are now calling it the Deep Creek Fire.
“It’s been burning right on the edge of the forest,” Lipsher said. “Our fear is that if it burns into the deeper timber there’s quite a bit of beetle kill in there. We’re not seeing big runs now. There hasn’t been much in the way of winds. The temperature has been dropping and humidity is going up. But it’s been burning some tall trees. … We hope it doesn’t get deep into the bigger trees and start burning for days.”
Lipsher estimated that only between six and 10 homes had to be evacuated in the area, but that those residents should expect to spend the night somewhere else.
Lipsher said that local officials were in the process of ramping up the county’s emergency operations center to help facilitate logistics and administrative needs for the firefighting efforts, and that fire crews would be left in the area overnight to keep eyes on the fire.
Photo from Steve Lipsher / Summit Fire & EMS
Original story
Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for the Spring Creek/Shadow Creek Ranch neighborhood north of Heeney after a 50-acre wildfire broke out in the area Wednesday afternoon.
While the fire was originally thought to be in Grand County, officials now believe the fire is burning on Forest Service lands inside Summit County, according to Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons. FitzSimons continued to say that no life or property was currently being threatened, and that the evacuation order was given out of an “abundance of caution.”
Photo from Grand County Sheriff’s Office
“We think it’s on U.S. Forest Service land in Summit,” FitzSimons said. “We’re obviously watching the wind and the weather, and it’s going to be dark soon and the humidity will rise, so hopefully it will get better. But we have a lot of resources on it, and there are air resources en route.”
Smoke was reported near the subdivision at about 3:45 p.m. Fire crews and law enforcement from Summit and Grand counties responded to the blaze, along with Forest Service crews.
Highway 9 between Silverthorne and Kremmling remains open.
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The Deep Creek Fire is pictured Oct. 7.
Photo from Steve Lipsher
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Deep Creek Fire, Oct. 7, 2020.
Photo from Steve Lipsher
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The Deep Creek Fire burns on Oct. 7, 2020.
Photo by Eli Pace / Sky-Hi News
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Deep Creek Fire, Oct. 7, 2020.
Photos by Eli Pace / Sky-Hi News
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Deep Creek Fire, Oct. 7, 2020.
Photos by Eli Pace / Sky-Hi News
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