Fire grows to 312 acres, forces evacuations
The Lefthand Canyon Drive grew to about 300 acres and prompted evacuations for Ward, Sunshine Canyon and Gold Hill, but aerial firefighting efforts were able to help stop its spread Sunday afternoon.
Ward, along with homes along Spring Gulch Road and on the 13,000 block of Lefthand Canyon, was evacuated shortly after 1 p.m., when a neighbor called in the fire. Altogether, at least 145 homes have been evacuated, according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management.
Homes north of Ward, Gold Hill and Sunshine Canyon area are now also under mandatory evacuation orders, which can be found at bouldercounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/ index.html?id=13ab214fe2bb4da 5a850df0ca0f00fc5.
Jamestown, which was under voluntary evacuation for the CalWood Fire, is now also under voluntary evacuation for this fire as well.
Boulder County officials said that due to an error with some third-party alert systems such as Amazon’s Alexa, some residents of Boulder and Longmont were told evacuate even though those cities are not in the evacuation area.
The fire was reported shortly before 1 p.m. and was growing because of heavy winds, according
to scanner traffic. Crews initially estimated the Lefthand Canyon Fire at five acres, and by about 7 p.m. Boulder County sheriff’s Division Chief Mike Wagner said the fire was estimated to be 312 acres in size.
However, a difference in weather conditions between the two burn areas allowed aerial units that could not operate on the CalWood Fire to divert to the Lefthand Fire, which Wagner said was a large factor in crews being able to keep the fire north of Lefthand Canyon.
At this time, no cause is known and Wagner said it is not known if any structures were lost.
Lefthand Canyon Drive is closed at Peak to Peak Highway and Sawmill Road. Old Depot Road, Humboldt Street, Gold Lake Road and County Road 100 are all closed at Peak to Peak Highway.
An evacuation point has been set up at Nederland Community Center, 750 Peak to Peak Highway. Large animals can be taken to the Gilpin County Fairgrounds, 230 Norton Drive in Blackhawk.
Several evacuees brought their campers to the Nederland Community Center and planned to spend the night in the parking lot, including Becky Martinek.
Martinek, whose home is in Indian Gulch below Ward, said this is the first time she’s had to evacuate in her 45 years living there — though she did have evacuated friends stay at her house previously during both the Fourmile Fire and the floods.
She planned to spend the night in her camper with her dog, Maybelline, allowing her to check the fire’s progress from a nearby overlook. If she isn’t allowed home Monday, she plans to stay with friends in east Boulder County.
She said she first got notice of the Lefthand Canyon Fire on Facebook, then was told five minutes later by a Forest Service employee to evacuate. The fire started one ridge over from where she lives, she said, adding she was able to pack quickly using the same list she made 10 years ago during the Fourmile Fire.
“I was organized and already on alert because of the (Cal-wood Fire),” she said.
The fire started as crews in Boulder County were already fighting the Cal-wood Fire, which has grown to almost 9,000 acres just north of the Lefthand Canyon Fire.