Cameron Peak Fire threatens Mountain Campus of Colorado St. Univ.

Map of the Cameron Peak Fire
Map of the Cameron Peak Fire Oct. 9, 2020. USFS map.

The 131,231-acre Cameron Peak Fire threatened to spread through the Mountain Campus of Colorado State University Friday afternoon. The fire is 20 air miles west of Fort Collins, CO.

At 1:54 p.m MDT a satellite detected heat from the fire just west of the facilities. Wind out of the southwest at 9 to 12 mph with gusts to 24 were recorded at a weather station near the campus Friday afternoon. The breezy conditions with 15 percent relative humidity and low fuel moisture set up a situation that put the facilities at risk.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Cameron Peak Fire, including the most recent, click here.

The area near the campus was the part of the fire showing the most heat during the satellite overflight.

“I am deeply sorry to have to tell you all that according to our teams on the ground, the Cameron Peak Fire is expected to move through our Mountain Campus today,” said CSU President Joyce McConnell in a message on the University’s web site Friday October 9. “Fire activity picked up at 1:30 this morning and today is expected to be a very active fire day, with low humidity and extreme fire behavior. I can assure you that the Incident Command Center Crew has strong point protection in place at the campus, including hoses, portable water reservoirs, and sprinklers. The crews have been working on this plan for weeks; in the early stages of the fire they did mitigation around the campus that will be helpful as well. They have also focused on protecting other threatened structures in the area.”

Additional evacuations were ordered around the Cameron Peak Fire Friday.

Map of the Cameron Peak Fire
Map of the Cameron Peak Fire. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 1:54 p.m MDT Oct. 9, 2020. The red line was the perimeter at 8:55 p.m. MDT October 8, 2020.
CSU Mountain Campus
Structures at the Colorado State University Mountain Campus. Undated CSU file photo.
CSU Mountain Campus
Structures at the Colorado State University Mountain Campus. Undated CSU file photo.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to L M.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

2 thoughts on “Cameron Peak Fire threatens Mountain Campus of Colorado St. Univ.”

  1. Hmmm. Did the wind change from NW to SW, or ?

    Aren’t concentrated groups of spot fires like that usually downwind?

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  2. Many of us have stayed in one of those little cabins during our forestry summer camp. Another fire in 1994 burned through the Pingree Park Campus in 1994 and did burn structures. Since there has been a lot of aspen regeneration around the campus.

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