Lightning-sparked wildfire spreads, evacuations ordered
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published June 26, 2008 at 8:51 p.m.
Updated June 26, 2008 at 8:51 p.m.
A lightning-sparked fire exploded into a 100-acre wildfire along the Park/Teller County border Thursday, threatening 50 structures and forcing the evacuation of about 100 people on the Park County side.
Authorities believe the fire was caused by a lighting strike on Wednesday near the Nash Ranch about 12 miles east of Guffey.
"It was one of those things that just kind of smouldered down in the dust and cut loose when the wind kicked in," said Park County Sheriff's spokeswoman Linda Balough. The blaze doubled in size from about 40 acres at 5:30 p.m. to about 200 acres by 8 p.m., she said.
About 100 firefighters - aided by air tankers - are battling the blaze, which is located about 50 miles south of Fairplay, Balough said. The fire was spreading last night about a half-mile per hour in an east to southeasterly direction, she said. No injuries were reported.
The threatened structures, most of them summer residences, are mostly in the Bear Trap subdivision, which straddles to border of the two counties. An emergency shelter was set up inside a school in Guffey, but so far, no one is using it, Balough said.
"These are independent people, so they're figuring things out for themselves," she added.
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