Snow, cold put damper on Colorado wildfire

Officials stress storm is ‘season-slowing’ not ‘season-ending’

DENVER — Snow and cold weather on Sunday put a damper on a wildfire that has forced thousands of people to evacuate in northern Colorado and burned part of Rocky Mountain National Park, but fire officials warned it would not be enough to put out the blaze.

A day after strong winds helped push the fire in the park, forcing the evacuation of Estes Park, the gateway town at its eastern edge, temperatures dropped and no fire growth was expected, Noel Livingston, incident commander of the East Troublesome Fire, said.

On Saturday, the winds that preceded the cold front pushed a portion of that fire that started out ahead of the main fire in Rocky Mountain National Park but firefighters were able to piece together three miles of fire lines to keep it from spreading farther to the east toward Estes Park, fire managers said. An update from the team fighting the nearby Cameron Peak Fire, which is in charge of fighting the breakaway fire in the park, said the fire has not crossed Bear Creek Road in the park.

The East Troublesome Fire has destroyed around 301 square miles — an area nearly the size of New York City. The second-largest wildfire in Colorado history was 10% contained.

Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that the wildfire was likely caused by human activity.

With the fire lying low, firefighters were focused Sunday on shoring up protection for structures along the fire’s southern edge, including the town of Granby, fire spokeswoman Jerolyn Byrne said.

She said the snow was not what fire managers call a “season-ending event.” While the snow cools down lighter fuels such as grasses and shrubs, heavier logs and downed trees can carry their heat through the snow and do not absorb as much moisture, which will cause the fire to come back to life once the weather dries out and warms up, she said. That is expected to happen Tuesday.

“Season-slowing, maybe, but not season-ending,” she said of the shift in weather.

Wildfires usually do not burn as late into the year in Colorado’s mountains. The Grand County Sheriff’s Office has organized a team of volunteer plumbers and contractors to check on homes.