Hewlett fire grows to 7,000+ acres

Map of Hewlett fire, 2:19 a.m., May 18, 2012

Map of Hewlett fire, 2:19 a.m., May 18, 2012

UPDATE at 8 p.m. May 18, 2012

The US Forest Service announced that all evacuations and Highway 14 reopened at 7 p.m.. There was no fire spread on Friday and it is 45% contained.

====================================================

The Hewlett fire, 10 miles northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado added a couple of thousand acres on Thursday, and at 2 a.m. Friday morning was mapped by US Forest Service infrared aircraft N144Z at 7,673 acres. The map of the fire above shows that the perimeter moved south down to Highway 14 and appears to be holding there, at least for now. If you need a higher resolution version of the map you can view it here; it’s 1.5 MB.

Thursday firefighters conducted some burnouts on the east side that strengthened that flank of the fire along the North Fork of the Poudre from Seaman Reservoir to Long Draw. Portions of Highway 14 remain closed.

Here is some information from InciWeb about evacuations:

The mandatory evacuation for the 15 homes along Highway 14 from the Greyrock Trailhead to the North Poudre diversion dam (approximately mile markers 113 to 115) is still in effect. Highway 14 remain closed from Ted’s Place to Stove Praire. Evacuation Center is established at Cache La Poudre Middle School, 3515 West County Road 54G in La Porte, Colo. If you have large animals, you may take them to The Ranch off of I-25.

 

Share
This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Bill Gabbert. Bookmark the permalink.

About Bill Gabbert

Wildland fire has been a major part of Bill Gabbert’s life for several decades. After growing up in the south, he migrated to southern California where he lived for 20 years, working as a wildland firefighter. Later he took his affinity for firefighting to Indiana and eventually the Black Hills of South Dakota where he was the Fire Management Officer for a group of seven national parks. Today he is the creator and owner of WildfireToday.com and Sagacity Wildfire Services and serves as an expert witness in wildland fire. If you are interested in wildland fire, welcome… grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up. Google+