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Forest Fire Levels Home In Teller County

One Home Destroyed, Others Evacuated

UPDATED: 9:45 p.m. MDT April 16, 2002

A forest fire continued to burn Tuesday night near Florrisant as firefighting efforts were hampered by gusty winds in the area.

Burned structure in fire

The blaze burned more than 80 acres on Teller County and Pike National Forest Service land between Divide and Florissant, said Barb Timmock, National Forest Service spokeswoman.

Winds were gusting up to 40 to 50 miles per hour on the ground Tuesday evening.

At least one home was lost (pictured, left) to the fire, 7NEWS reported. It appeared to be a modular home. A truck and several outbuildings next to the home were also destroyed. The home was located in the JDK subdivision.

Teller County Sheriff Frank Fehn said that about 10 families evacuated their homes Tuesday afternoon in case the fire spread. The large fire was burning away from the homes Tuesday night, however.

The blaze was dubbed the "Cedar Mountain Fire" by the forest service. Timmock said it started on private property then jumped Cedar Mountain road onto Pike National Forest land.

Firefighters from Teller County and El Paso County were helping crews from the National Forest Serivce battle the blaze. Firefighters had 10 engines, two bulldozers, and four water trucks working on the fire. High winds prevented slurry drops by aircraft Tuesday afternoon.

There was no estimate of containment on the fire, according to the Forest Service.

Another fire burned in El Paso County, near Ute Pass Tuesday. Firefighters put out the wildfire southwest of Waldo Canyon along French Creek that burned 3 acres. It was unclear whether the fire was on national forest, county or private land, Timock said.

Another fire was reported Tuesday evening south of Cañon City, but there were no further details, 7NEWS reported.

Most of Colorado is listed in the Very High Fire Danger category, with the pocket where the Divide fire is burning listed in the Extreme Fire Danger category (see map), according to the National Forest Service.


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