Royal Gorge Park recovers from June 2013 wildfire

On the fifth anniversary of the Royal Gorge Fire, many visitors said they weren’t aware of it or could see no evidence of it.

“We’ve been focusing on park beautification,” said Peggy Gair, spokeswoman for the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Fremont County.

Early on the afternoon of June 11, 2013, the fire forced the evacuation of 1,200 tourists and 200 employees from the park that opened in 1929. All but four of the park’s 52 buildings were destroyed. The iconic suspension bridge, the highest in the country, was virtually undamaged.

“The fire jumped the gorge in two places,” Gair said. “It was unusually hot, dry and windy that day. It must have taken 45 minutes from the time we saw the fire to the time we evacuated.”

The park reopened on a limited basis that fall, offering drive-through tours, and reopened fully in 2015.

“Attendance has been up 5 to 6 percent every year,” Gair said. “Last year, we had nearly 360,000 people visit here.”

Some previous attractions, such as the incline car to the Arkansas River, have not returned.

“It’ll be two to five years before we make a decision on that,” Gair said. “The total repair cost was around $30 million.”

Then, there are new attractions, such as a zip liner.

The park now has a new visitors center and a water clock that was rebuilt by the park’s maintenance staff because the original clock is no longer made.

Another new feature is a 90,000-gallon water tank to extinguish future fires.

Gair said the park plans to keep adding new attractions in the coming years.

“I know that some people miss the old look and feel of the park, but most seem to like the new design,” she said. “We were planning to rebuild some of the buildings. We just didn’t expect the fire to force us into it.”

Fire now plays an important role in the park’s history, attractions and infrastructure.