Shooting exercise causes fire at Fort Carson

A Marine shooting exercise Saturday caused a fire at Fort Carson that has burned more than 1,200 acres.

The fire was 65% contained Monday morning.

Col. Joel Hamilton said Marines from Camp Pendleton shot a target, which ignited a small fire. He said the fire spread into an inaccessible area.

Hamilton said no homes are being affected at this time and the area was not under a red flag warning at the time.

He said there was fuel in the area for the flames.

“The record rainfalls from May and June left significant vegetation growth,” he said.

Incident Commander Peter Wolf added further insight, saying “The flames are eight to twelve feet long and the grass is one foot tall. We can’t get [into the area] easily sometimes, and this one got away from us.”

More than 50 firefighters from all over the Pikes Peak region worked to contain the fire over the weekend.

Firefighters from Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy remained on scene Monday.

“It puts up a lot of smoke and brings a lot of concern, but we are well contained within the installation with plenty of resources,” Wolf said.

Fire crews are using bulldozers to lay down fire lines, and removing any vegetation that could fuel the flames.

Chinook helicopters are providing air support to put out the fire.

Fire crews are now hoping Mother Nature can join in the fire fight by providing rain or snow in the next few days

Wolf does expect the fire to grow slightly.

This is the third fire in the past month at Fort Carson.