Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse addressed Colorado’s wildfires Friday afternoon standing at the edge of the CalWood Fire’s scorched earth at Heil Valley Ranch.
While containmeint of Boulder County’s Lefthand Canyon and CalWood fires is on the upswing after both igniting last weekend, the East Troublesome and Cameron Peak fires are still roaring.
“They feel pretty good,” Polis said about officials fighting Boulder County’s fires. “Unless there’s a chance of wind and some hostile winds. There’s a few areas they’re watching … Most families have returned home in Boulder County.”
The Lefthand Canyon Fire was 100% contained Thursday at 460 acres after burning for just over four days near Ward. As of Friday, The CalWood Fire is 66% contained at 10,073 acres. There are 495 officials on scene.
Boulder County’s evacuation map on late Friday showed new containment on the CalWood Fire’s southern edge near Spruce Gulch, where officials said that morning crews would focus on improving the fire lines.
“Crews on the south side of the fire have been successful in constructing and improving direct lines on the fire’s edge,” officials wrote in a post Friday evening.
“Crews on the south side of the fire have been successful in constructing and improving direct lines on the fire’s edge,” officials wrote in a post Friday evening.
Boulder County lifted all evacuation orders for both fires Friday morning.
Fire behavior was minimal Friday, according to an evening update on the CalWood and Lefthand Canyon Fires Facebook page.
Josh Shroyer with the Rocky Mountain Incident Management team said in a Friday morning update the focus in the coming days for crews on the CalWood Fire is where the fire is now moving through some difficult terrain as it burns toward Colo. 7 on the north side of the perimeter.
“Our big issue is on the northwest side, where the fire has crossed and gone into some steep country,” Shroyer said. “We’re looking at some containment features, some old road beds, some natural features such as rock outcrops or maybe even some handline if we can get some decent enough terrain to get some crews in there. So that’s our big scouting mission for today.”
As for the Lefthand Canyon Fire, officials are continuing to monitor the burn area. Shroyer said crews from the Lefthand Canyon fire were being sent to the CalWood fire.
The cause of each fire is still under investigation.
Polis’ stop in Boulder County was the end of his daylong tour through Grand and Larimer counties where he met with evacuees and fire experts.
Polis said most of the state’s wildfires are burning federal land. He said the CalWood Fire, which ignited near Jamestown, is burning the largest percentage of private land.
Polis and Neguse echoed the mantra of fire officials and residents alike, hoping for a cold, snowy weekend.
“We always like our snow in winter. This year it’s even more important,” Polis said, later adding, “I’ve never been so happy for cold. My fingers are a little numb and that fills me with joy.”
Neguse addressed climate change and federal funding.
“There’s a lot of work for us to do in Washington, both in terms of ensuring the federal response meets the scale and the enormity of these fires, and we’re certainly going to be doing precisely that.” Neguse said. “And also long term, as we think about both climate change adaptation and mitigation. The realities of climate change and the way in which these drought conditions are exacerbating these wildfires.”
Looking forward, Polis also nodded to the state’s changing climate in combating and preventing fires.
“Two risk factors that Colorado has to struggle with in regard to fire safety, and those are climate change,” he said. “The second factor is population growth and public land utilization.”
