Fire in Teller County tests new alert system

TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- A fire between Cripple Creek and Florissant prompted a brief evacuation in Teller County this afternoon.

It’s one of the first fires in the area since the county combined all its emergency notifications under one notification system, Peak Alerts.   

Firefighters from the Four-Mile Fire Department were tasked with responding to that fire.

Neighbors nearby the fire told me they were impressed by the firefighter's quick response time and the speed at which they received emergency alerts. The Teller County Sheriff’s Office says they got reports of the fire at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. The fire chief from the Four-Mile Fire Department and around a dozen firefighters responded to put it out.

The fire didn’t climb up any trees and stayed on the ground, only burning around 2 acres total.

Based on the levels of smoke in the area, the fire chief decided to issue an evacuation alert for people in the area.

“It was a very quick send out notification of people in the area, the people that are actually affected by the event, and then once it was determined we didn't need an evacuation, very quick to notify everybody that, hey, it's good you don't have to evacuate.” commander Lad Sullivan with the sheriff's office says they did not see anyone evacuate in the time between those two alerts.

But the evacuation order only lasted less than 30 minutes total.

Investigators are still digging into the cause of the fire.