Canyonlands Fire in Fremont County now 25% contained

The Canyonlands Fire is still at 50 acres in the hills of Fremont County northwest of Canon City, and now fire crews say it’s 25% contained.

The fire is burning about nine miles northwest of Canon City. It was started by lightning on July 9.

Crews on Tabletop mountain are starting to push back against the flames, thanks in large to the two hotshot crews still on the mountain, the helicopters dumping water and bringing supplies to the crews on the mountain, as well as a third crew out of Boulder that just left the scene.

“Pretty steep nasty country with just tough fuels to work in,” said Seth McKinney when asked about the terrain up on the mountain. McKinney is the chief firefighter out of Boulder County, a group of first responders from seven different agencies in Boulder County.

Due to the thick brush — that’s what they refer to as fuel — and rocky terrain, McKinney says his crew used a variety of hand tools just to get to the fire.

“I’m talking loose rocks, big boulders; you’ve got to kind of climb around the whole field,” said McKinney. “Brush ten feet high, I mean guys can get lost in there.”

Conditions certainly aren’t pretty up there either. McKinney’s crew’s last proper shower was five days ago, and many slept out in the brush.

For their crew who fight fires throughout the state and even country, this is par for the course.

“The rain can make things especially challenging,” said McKinney. We did have thunderstorm roll in yesterday and got a little wet, but that’s just apart of the job.”

Tabletop Mountain received a tenth of an inch of rain Sunday.

“It helps them a lot,” said Lt. Kevin Colvin with the Tallahassee Fire Department. “The recent rain dropped this fire a lot and they’ve been able to make massive progress.”

Lt. Kevin Colvin and Lt. Nicholas Cooper, both with the Tallahassee Fire Department, were the first two to report the flames from the Canyonlands Fire last Tuesday.

“When Lt. Cooper pulled out the glasses and started looking off to the northwest here and saw the clouds. We’re going uh oh. Our day is shot,” said Colvin.

The Tallahassee is currently serving as a ground base of operations for the two remaining hotshot crews and the helicopters dumping water use the spot to refuel.

We’ll have updates on this story throughout the day.

Previous Story (By: Dan Beedie)

Sunday is day 6 in the fight against the Canyonlands Fire in Fremont County.

On Wednesday, day 2, drivers heading westbound on Highway 50 got a good look at the white smoke from the flames coming off the mountain. However, today is a different story. It’s hard to see any signs of flames at all.

“This is a good sign,” said Greg Heule, the Canyonlands Fire PIO. “That means the fire has laid down considerably.”

The work is far from done though. Currently camped out 9 miles west of Canon City, 85 firefighters continue to battle the flames. As of Sunday, the Canyonlands fire has reached 50 acres and is 0% contained.

Crews are also continuing to deal with difficult terrain.

“From a distance, it doesn’t look all that bad but the oak brush up there is between 6-10 feet tall so there are very difficult fuels,” said Heule. “Then on top of that, there are real rugged, broken, rocky terrains.”

Helicopters worked all day Saturday dumping water and retardant to try to contain the flames.

“I think yesterday we were at 40,000 gallons that we dropped on the fire,” said Roger Capps, a command Pilot of a Type 1 Helicopter.

Capps and his crew of 8 men have been helping contain the flames for 4 days now.

As of Sunday, the crew is waiting 15 miles away at Fremont County Airport for firefighters on the ground to call them to assist.

Pilots may not be on the ground but these flights are tiresome in their own way.

“Depending on the conditions it gets a little hot up there,” said Capps. “Turbulence might bump you around here in the greater state of Colorado but after about an 8-hour day you are pretty much exhausted.”

These helicopters are needed for extra support to help contain the fires. However, it’s the boots on the ground that will push the flames back.

Crews hope to have the Canyonlands fire 100% contained by Friday. However, that’s also dependent on if the area gets some rainfall.