#EastTroublesomeFire - Grand County

InciWeb: East Troublesome Fire

Basic Information:
Current as of 10/22/2020, 7:45:53 AM
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Wednesday October 14th, 2020 approx. 04:00 PM
Location N of Hot Sulphur Springs, CO
Incident Commander Noel Livingston
Incident Description Wind Driven Wildfire
Coordinates 40.201 latitude, -106.234 longitude

Current Situation:
Total Personnel 295
Size 125,602 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained 5%
Estimated Containment Date Tuesday November 10th, 2020 approx. 12:00 AM
Fuels Involved: Grass, sage, and lodgepole pine

Significant Events
Active wind driven runs, short range spotting, isolated tree torching. The primary driver of the fire is winds in areas of heavy fuels consisting of beetle killed timber.

There will two Media Briefings held for the East Troublesome Fire today. At 11:00 a.m. and at 4:00 p.m. These briefings will be open to media outlets that would like to attend in person (East Grand Middle School, 251 West Diamond Avenue, Grandby, CO) and also live on Facebook.

Weather and Fire Behavior: The fire areas experienced strong southwest winds between 20-25 mph and gusts to 50 mph Wednesday afternoon. Humidities were extremely low throughout the day and remained low overnight, ranging from 18 to 20%. Very windy conditions and low relative humidities are expected to continue throughout the day today and a RED FLAG WARNING will be in effect until 6:00 p.m. A cold front is expected to pass mid-afternoon, which will bring a shift in the wind direction to the west, northwest. Extreme fire behavior is expected on the East Troublesome Fire again today.

East Troublesome Fire: Fire activity increased substantially in the late afternoon and into the evening yesterday. A combination of weather, terrain, and beetle-killed lodgepole pine contributed to the significant fire growth that was seen overnight. Firefighter and public safety continue to be the highest priority and both local fire departments and wildland fire resources and today will focus on supporting continued evacuation efforts as well as point protection activities that will occur along the Highway 34 corridor. Point protection is a strategy which focuses wildland fire crews and engines on protecting values at risk including communities, infrastructure and other areas of values at risk. Aviation assets, including both helicopter and fixed-wing, will be available to support firefighting efforts when weather and smoke conditions allow.

Williams Fork Fire: Yesterday, there was minimal fire movement and growth. Today, crews will continue to monitor areas of activity and aviation assets will be available to support throughout the day.

Evacuations: Evacuation levels continue to be implemented across Grand County and around the East Troublesome Fire area. Updates are provided by Grand County Emergency Management and can be found at gcemergency.com. Please consider signing up for the Grand County CodeRED system, which will notify your mobile device of changing evacuation conditions.

Closures: Forest closures are in place for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests. Rocky Mountain National Park has also issued closure order. There is a area closure on the Bureau of Land Management – Kremmling Field Office lands.

At 6:00 a.m. this morning Pacific Northwest Team 3 -Type 1 Incident Management organization assumed command of both the Williams Fork and East Troublesome Fires.

Williams Fork Fire Public Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/williamsforkfire
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 970-445-2910, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

East Troublesome Fire Public Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EastTroublesomeFire
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 970-725-3803, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority - LETA

This is the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office with an emergency message. The East Troublesome Fire officials have ordered Mandatory evacuations for Estes Park with the following boundaries: north border of Fall River Road, south border of Highway 36, west border of Elm Road, and the east border of Wonderview. Mandatory Evacuations have been ordered for residents and business occupants in the area due to immediate and imminent danger. Evacuate the area immediately and as quickly as possible. Do not delay leaving to gather belongings or make efforts to protect your home or business. Evacuating immediately not only supports your safety, but also allows emergency crews better access to the area. For questions about the evacuations, please call the Joint Information Center at 970-980-2500. For text updates, text the word TFIRE to 888777 from your cell phone. We will communicate information to that key word as needed. To view a map of the evacuation areas, please visit nocoalert.org. Please do not call 9-1-1 unless you are in danger. Thank you.

RockyNPS @RockyNPS 3h

All of #RMNP is closed to visitors due to fire activity on the west side of the Continental Divide. If conditions allow, an Infrared flight is planned to gauge where there is current fire activity. This is a rapidly evolving situation. Currently, air quality is hazardous #RMNP.

Grand County Braces For Another Large Growth Day For The East Troublesome Fire
By Corey H. Jones, Kevin J. Beaty, Michael Elizabeth Sakas, Hart Van Denburg, and Nathaniel Minor, CPR News | October 22, 2020