Gold Mountain fire burns thousands of acres in Colorado

With disbelief, I have watched the Gold Mountain Fire burn the iconic Cimarron Range for a week from the back deck of my home overlooking Ridgway, a vibrant mountain town in southwestern Colorado. Wind-blown flames spread across Cimarron, consuming aspen and spruce-fir forests, displacing wildlife, and sending plumes of smoke into the bluebird sky. Firefighters are battling a massive blaze that is devastating the Uncompahgre National Forest and threatening Ouray and neighboring Ridgeway. Since the wildfire broke out just outside Ouray on Saturday, June 27, it has spread to more than 27,500 acres due to high winds and dry conditions.

My brother Logan and I were at Ore’s a few hours before the fire. We continued hiking to the amazing viewpoint of Box Cannon Falls, which my wife Laura and I had trekked earlier that week on our way to complete Ouray’s difficult 5.6-mile-long Circumference Trail to celebrate her birthday. After the climb, Logan and I went underground Wiesbaden Hotel Vapor CaveMy favorite place to recharge. We were driving back to our house after dinner at Gnar Tacos in Ridgway when we saw smoke in the direction of Ouray. The small plume was rising from a rocky slope above U.S. Route 550, the main route in the region that connects Ridgway and Ouray before moving south through the San Juan Mountains to Silverton and Durango. In the apocalyptic scenes widely shared on social media, we had no idea the fire would grow so fast that flaming trees would fall off the cliff that night.

Evacuations began immediately in Ouray County, home to about 5,000 people, and by the time Governor Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency the next afternoon, the fire had spread to 572 acres. One preliminary report It was indicated that the fire was caused by a tree falling on a power line beneath the Gold Mountain Ranch, but the official cause remains under investigation. Two days later, on June 30, the wildfire grew to more than 12,000 acres as it entered Cimarron, just east of Ridgway, prompting additional evacuations.

The rugged terrain, drought conditions and persistent winds have made the fire challenging to control. The multi-agency response focused on establishing containment lines and protecting structures, critical infrastructure and U.S. Route 550, which is the primary evacuation route and critical for transportation along Colorado’s Western Slope.

A fire camp has been set up at the Ouray County Fairgrounds, and the Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter at Ridgeway Secondary School. As firefighters on the ground work around the clock to contain the blaze, yellow helicopters are pulling water from the Ridgway Reservoir and dropping it on hotspots, while tanker planes are dropping pink flame retardant on the steep hills. But sustained rain or snowfall will be required to completely extinguish the fire.

As I write this, the Gold Mountain fire is three percent contained and drought conditions persist, with southwesterly winds fanning the flames every afternoon. When Laura and I wake up in the morning, we can’t see the eastern horizon because smoke has accumulated in the Uncompahgre Valley overnight, worsening the air quality throughout the region. Our story is one of thousands happening across the West right now, as residents watch fires consume their favorite outdoor spaces at terrifying speed. And last summer’s wildfire is still fresh in our minds in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, one of our all-time favorite places to fish. We could see the South Rim burning from our back deck.

Laura and I closely follow the growth of the Gold Mountain Fire with a tracking app look at duty And while we wait for updates with our friends and neighbors, life continues mostly as normal – at least for now. Ouray held its Fourth of July celebration as planned (sans fireworks), and Ridgway began its outdoor summer concert series last week. As families danced to music in the town park, Baldy Peak could be seen burning in the near distance.

In addition to the fire’s immediate threat to our community and its impact on the regional economy during the peak of summer tourism, it is difficult to watch it destroy outdoor recreation sites in the Uncompahgre National Forest right before our eyes, especially as the battle over public lands continues to escalate across our country. When the aspens turned gold last fall, Laura and I fly-fished in the same mountains that we can now see burning from our home, the stunning peaks of the Cimarron transformed into ghostly shadows on the foggy horizon.

This Sawtooth Range has abundant wildlife, trout streams, and many hiking trails. Located within the Cimarrons, Silver Jack Reservoir offers paddling and fishing, and driving Oure County Road 8 through Owl Creek Pass is Laura’s and my favorite way to go leaf peeping. But as of now, the future of CR 8, the trail system and the trout stream is unclear. And once the fires are finally extinguished, we will have to contend with rain-triggered landslides and debris flows that threaten public safety and the health of our forests and rivers.

As the sun sets into the evening haze, the flames scorching Cimarron become more visible. The mesmerizing sight of a forest fire glowing bright orange in the waning darkness fills me with a mixture of awe and fear. It is a primal feeling that is deeply rooted in my conscience, and we are all in common with the people hundreds of generations who inhabited these lands long before us and who have no doubt watched fire time and again shape and reshape the western landscape. The Gold Mountain fire will join countless other wildfires etched in the history books. But its ultimate impact on the region has not yet been determined.