Crystal fire. Photo: 9news

A Type 1 Incident Management Team has been ordered for the 2,000-acre Crystal fire that has forced the evacuation of over 300 residences in three areas west of Fort Collins, Colorado. Until the Type 1 team assumes command, a local Type 3 team will be managing the fire which is burning in the Roosevelt National Forest.

Here is a map that shows the approximate location of the Crystal fire as detected by satellites at 9:39 a.m. on April 3.

GeoMAC

The temperature on Saturday in Denver set a record of 84 degrees while the winds yesterday at the Redstone weather station west of Fort Collins gusted up to 49 mph coupled with single-digit relative humidities. Sunday morning the winds at that station decreased to 8 mph with gusts to 20.

However by mid-morning on Sunday it began snowing in the fire area reducing the visibility to 1/4 mile, grounding the aircraft and prompting the demob of all but a few engines. The snow was sticking to the ground and the fire activity was described as “minimal”.

Monitor live radio transmissions from Larimer County Fire and EMS. Radios from firefighting aircraft can be heard here.

UPDATE at 10:40 p.m. MT, April 3, 2011

The evacuations were lifted at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Residents will need documentation, such as a driver’s license. According to the official update on InciWeb, 15 homes and 4,500 acres have burned.