A wildfire that broke out Thursday at 4:30 p.m MDT caused evacuations to be ordered southwest of Denver. It was named “Deer Creek Canyon Park Fire” after the park by the same name. The fire appeared to have ignited about 250 feet south of a fire station for the Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District along Grizzly Drive south of 124. (see map below)
The video below shows the fire burning with a slow rate of spread through heavy brush, but it slowed even more when reaching grassy areas that still had a green component.
The closest structures that were affected by the evacuation are very large homes, most but not all with defensible space. Stacy Martin, Public Information Officer for the fire, said Friday at 9 a.m. that no residents took advantage of the designated evacuation shelters. The evacuation was still in effect Friday at 9 a.m. but she said fire officials hope to rescind the order “soon”.
Overnight the relative humidity rose to over 80 percent which along with a wind shift dampened the spread of the fire.
Ms. Martin said the fire burned an estimated 20 to 25 acres and is surrounded by a hose lay. The 33-minute Denver 7 video below did not record any aircraft working the fire. A helicopter will be available today that flew in from Montrose, Colorado Thursday night. Approximately 130 firefighters have been assigned.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said the fire was human-caused, but that just means it was not started by lightning or a volcano. He said an explosion was heard around the time it started and juveniles were seen running in the area.
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This was a man caused fire, an explosion with kids running in the area, not something you want in an urban WUI.
Is there an update? Have these kids been found, and the cause?
It may just be my perception but it seems like there are a lot more frequent occurences of wildland fires with evacuations than just 10 years ago. Some of this is likely from the ever expanding WUI, some of it from an abundance of caution after the deaths in California and elsewhere the last several years, and maybe some just because the news is covering the evacuation orders more frequently.
It would be an interesting analysis to see how much this has changed over time and whether this will eventually shift the public perception enough to finally have the political will to devote the resources and regulations necessary to reduce expanding the WUI and do fuel management across the millions of hectares that need it.
Now I understand why the engine at the lower portion of the fire was pumping copious amounts of water. The fire eventually laid down with the canyon R.H. approaching 80% Interesting tactic?