Fire forces 125 to leave homes

A wildfire in southeast Park County has burned 1,100 acres and forced 125 residents of a mountain subdivision from their homes.

The fire, which officials suspect was sparked by lightning about noon Thursday, was estimated at 10 percent contained Friday night. It has destroyed a shed and a camper, but no homes.

"It has come close to houses, but they have all been saved," said Patty Chapman, Park County spokeswoman.

Dry brush and windy conditions let the blaze spread from 200 acres Thursday night to 1,000 by Friday morning, but the wind shifted direction later in the day, blowing the flames into a gulch where firefighters could stop them, Chapman said.

Residents will be updated on the fire's status at 7 p.m. today at Four Mile Community Church. No one will be allowed home before then and probably not until Sunday, Chapman said.

There were 125 firefighters from several counties battling the blaze Friday afternoon, with more expected. Local officials handed command of the effort to a team of federal firefighters. Air tankers and helicopters were also on hand.

A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for the Bear Trap Ranch subdivision Friday afternoon, and residents of a nearby subdivision, Navajo Mountain Mesa, were warned they may have to leave.

For residents, Friday was a long day, and news of progress in fighting the blaze brought little comfort.

"I'm worried. The wind could change any minute," said Connie Briggs, camping with several other residents in their RVs and campers at the church.

Residents received calls from the county's reverse 911 system Thursday after- noon. Two shelters were opened, in Guffey and Cripple Creek, but few people used them.

"There were only three people in the shelter last night - my wife, my granddaughter and myself," said William Scheffel, who spent the night in the shelter at Cresson Elementary in Cripple Creek.

Friday, he tried to get back into the subdivision to check on his house, but the streets were blocked by sheriff's deputies.

"I just went up and hiked in, went past the sheriff's blockade," Scheffel said.

At the Cripple Creek shelter Friday afternoon, Jim and Julia Schnardthorst were eating sandwiches and waiting for word on when they could return home. Julia is a paraplegic, and the evacuation had been frantic.

Despite spending the previous night at a nursing home, they were upbeat.

"It happens," Jim Schnardthorst said. "God takes care of me, takes care of her, takes care of sending me places I've got to go at certain times."

But, he added, "I'd rather be home than trying to find a place to stay."

In Guffey, 10 miles west of the fire, the closest town, people were cautiously optimistic the fire would be stopped.

At Rita's Place, a restaurant, the fire had replaced the lack of rain as the topic of conversation.

"We could use some rain, no doubt, without the electricity in the sky," owner Rita Mick said

The fire and evacuations brought people together, from the neighbors who came to Bear Trap Ranch with horse trailers for evacuating animals Thursday to the woman who drove to Cañon City to get bread so Mick could make sandwiches for firefighters.

"It's a wonderful community," Mick said. "They've all come together when it's necessary."

Park County officials announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency had authorized the reimbursement of 75 percent of the costs of fighting the fire.

-

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or srappold@gazette.com