Ski resort welcomes visitors despite fire

DENVER — The historic mountain town near Breckenridge Ski Resort welcomed visitors who help drive its economy despite a nearby wildfire Friday that forced residents to be ready to flee in case it blows up.

No houses burned in the small blaze that is one of several in Colorado and around the U.S. West.

Despite the threat near Breckenridge, which is dotted with 19th century Victorian buildings, hundreds of people were expected at an annual summer beer festival Saturday. But ticketholders were warned that the main highway may be periodically closed by firefighters attacking the blaze that evacuated nearly 500 homes outside town, many of them pricey ski properties.

People can still take gondola rides to the ski resort for mountain views and play at its summer fun park, but a handful of hiking and biking trails, including a 13-mile segment of the popular 486-mile Colorado Trail, were closed.

Hikers and bikers on the Colorado Trail that runs from outside Denver to Durango can detour around the closure by taking a paved bike trail or hopping on a free bus connecting ski resort communities, said Bill Manning, executive director of the Colorado Trail Foundation.

A popular bicycle ride that takes riders over three mountain passes near Breckenridge was canceled because of smoke and a neighboring blaze to avoid taxing police who direct traffic along the route.

The fire has scorched less than a quarter of a square mile and is about 1½ miles from the closest evacuated home. It initially spread dramatically but has not grown in the following days thanks to cooler, cloudier weather.

Investigators do not know what sparked the blaze that’s one of several in the Western United States, parts of which are sweltering under extreme heat, including California.