Containment drops by over 10% due to fire growth

U.S. 34 area moved to voluntary evacuation

Due to the growth of the Cameron Peak Fire over the last few days, containment dropped from 62% to 51% as of Monday night.

Monday saw near critical fire conditions, with gusty winds and low humidity hitting across the fire, with humidity dropping as low as 14% at the Colorado State University Mountain Campus.

Aviva Braun, an incident meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said what they saw today is expected to continue.

“We are in a dry period and we are going to continue on that trend until Thursday morning,” Braun said.

Paul Delmerico, operations section chief, said the team had a very good day Monday, as crews were able to take direct approaches into the fire to drive it back. As teams on the ground continued to push against the fire and protect the structures on the southeastern area which has grown since last week, air crews were able to do a great deal of flyover work.

“A lot of effort has been put into this fire and we will continue to do so,” Delmerico said.

Dan Dallas, incident commander for the team, said that crews were able to go on the offense Monday, allowing them to make pushes into the fire while also defending the homes and

A press release from the city of Loveland offered ways residents can help out during the Cameron Peak Fire.

•Donations of canned or boxed foods can go to the Food Bank for Larimer County. More inormation can be found at foodbanklarimer.org.

•The United Way of Larimer County has established the Cameron Peak Fire Response Fund as a way for givers to have the most impact. More information can be found at uwaylc.org.

•The Red Cross is providing temporary housing for those affected by the Cameron Peak Fire. Those wishing to support can find more information at redcross.org.

• People can volunteer to support the firefighters at their bases by visiting Nocovolunteers.org and clicking on the “Volunteers of America Camp Crew” button.

areas at risk.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said, as Delmerico and Dallas said, the last few days have been very positive for the fire as teams were able to get significant work done.

Smith said that no new structures were reported to have been impacted Monday night. However, he did provide a rough estimate of around 30 to 50 houses that had been damaged or destroyed since last week when the fire saw significant growth. Smith added that around eight to 10 damage assessment crews are scheduled to go out into the area Tuesday morning.

Smith also discussed closures and evacuations in the U.S. 34 area, which when closed Friday afternoon led to long lines of residents trying to get in to receive items from their house and help family members to evacuate.

Smith said that in the last 24 hours the Sheriff’s Office was able to open up U.S. 34, which has been closed since Friday afternoon. This was done, Smith said, to balance the need for the citizens of Estes Park. To try and mitigate the number of cars driving through Lyons to get to Estes Park as the Calwood fire continues to grow, Smith said the roadway was opened.

Monday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office also downgraded the evacuation orders in the area from the Dam Store to Soul Shine Road from a mandatory evacuation order to voluntary.

“It is hard to justify we are letting cars get through there but telling citizens they can’t put their head on a pillow in their house at night,” Smith said.

Thea Wasche, a volunteer with the American Red Cross, said that for this event nearly 170 volunteers have been helping those in need. The Red Cross has provided lodging, food, mental health, spiritual care and health services to those displaced by the fire.

Wasche said that two weeks ago, the Red Cross had 40 clients in two hotels. Now the organization is helping 1,300 evacuees, who are staying in 570 rooms in16 hotels in the area, as well as three KOA campsites. Along with this, over 18,000 snacks and meals have been given to clients in hotels and on the grounds of the fire.

Information on evacuations can be found at nocoalert.org.