Firefighters make progress on Eightmile Fire

Firefighters were happy with progress made Sunday in containing the Eightmile Fire.

The Eightmile Fire is burning about six miles northeast of Caon City, on federal landunder the supervision of theBureau of Land Management. The fire is named after a creek which flows through the area.

As of Sunday morning, the fire was 10 percent contained, according to BLM Royal Gorge Field Office numbers updated on InciWeb and a release issued at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Incident Commander Dan Dallas said at a press conference that Sunday’s red flag conditions helped firefighting efforts. He said the fire didn’t gain any ground under the blustery and hot conditions, making him confident in progress crews have made.

While the fire is only 10 percent contained, Dallas expected the containment percentage is increase as soon as firefighters brought in new information.

A pre-evacuation notice was issued Friday night for 16 residences in the Red Rocks subdivision — specifically for those on the west side of County Road 132 from mile marker 5 to mile marker 9.5. The notices were not lifted as of Sunday evening.

Phantom Canyon Road is closed between mile markers 4.5 and 13.

There are currently 72 resources assigned to the fire. The Rocky Mountain Type 2 Incident Management Team B assumed command of the fire Saturday morning.

For information about the fire, call 720-336-8297.