Lightner Creek Canyon blaze near Durango forces evacuation of 170 homes

A fire near Durango that has forced the evacuation of 170 homes has grown to 250 acres, authorities said Thursday.

The wildfire, which began when a home burned down, is burning on the steep and difficult terrain of Lightner Creek Canyon.

“The fire is burning in a heavy fuel loaded area,” said Lightner fire spokesman Scot Davis. ”Today’s priority is firefighter and public safety.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper has labeled the blaze a disaster emergency to help efforts to fight the fire. His declaration includes authorization for the Colorado National Guard to provide support if requested. La Plata County officials have turned control of the firefighting effort in La Plata County over to the state.

Currently 170 homes have been evacuated. The state’s multi-mission aircraft has been deployed to help assess the fire’s size which has grown to more than 250 acres. Heat and wind gusts of 35 mph expected Thursday afternoon could complicate efforts to control the blaze.

Pre-evacuation notices for areas threatened by the fire include: Rafter J subdivision; Morning Star subdivision, Castle Ridge, West Fork, La Plata Vista and King Mountain estates; as well as individual homes. The pre-evacuation boundaries are roughly Highway 160 to the north, County Road 141 to the east and south, and Lake Durango and Shenandoah subdivisions to the west.

Air support had to be canceled early Thursday and materials that could have been used to fight the fire wasted when someone launched a privately owned drone, Davis said. Authorities are searching for whoever flew the drone.

“We fly low and slow and anything that is up there that can get into the engines can bring down the aircraft. We had to ditch two loads of retardant.”

The fire broke out late Wednesday afternoon and had burned about 100 acres by 8 p.m. Evacuation was ordered for about 140 homes along Lightner Creek Road from the intersections of LaPlata County Roads 207 and 208. The roads remained closed Thursday.

The LaPlata County Fairgrounds is open as an evacuation center for people and animals.

Jerry Mcbride, The Durango Herald A structure burning on Lightner Creek Road west of Durango on Wednesday quickly spread into the surrounding forest, creating the Lightner Creek fire and burning an estimated 100 acres.