Update: Derby Fire estimated at 2,547 acres, with as many as 400 Eagle County residents displaced

The Derby Fire burning in rugged terrain in the northwest corner of Eagle County is estimated at 2,547 acres and is 0% contained as of 7 p.m. Thursday.

A community meeting scheduled to take place via Facebook Live on the Derby Fire Facebook page at 6:30 p.m. Thursday was canceled after organizers encountered technical difficulties. Officials said a video would be posted to the fire’s Facebook page at some point. 

Residents in the area of Sweetwater Road were ordered to evacuate by noon on Wednesday. Between 200 and 400 residents have been displaced from their homes due to the evacuations, said Birch Barron, Eagle County’s emergency management director.

Evacuation resources will move from an in-person center to remote beginning Thursday night, and can be accessed by calling 970-328-7400.

Evacuation resources include support with shelter for displaced residents, along with clothes, food, behavioral health support and support with animals and agriculture.

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“We want the whole community to know that the support we’re offering is very much still available, just call that number and we can connect people with resources,” Barron said. “We’re here to help our community be resilient through this difficult time.”

Air quality remains a concern as smoke from the fire blows across the county.

“If visibility is less than 5 miles, you can start to see people who are sensitive to smoke and air quality start to feel uncomfortable, and if visibility is less than a mile, then it can be seriously harmful to health,” Barron said. “The main thing I want people to know is I think we have one of the best coordinated emergency response systems in the entire country here in Eagle County. We’ve got some really, really fantastic, very hardworking people not just working to suppress the fire but also working to keep people safe and support all those people who were impacted by this fire.”

Fire is ‘sitting in a bowl’

The Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team 3 took over the fire early Wednesday.

While the size of the fire nearly doubled on Thursday morning since the last report on Wednesday, the fire did not grow significantly overnight, according to Stefani Spencer, the lead spokesperson for the interagency team. Spencer said Thursday morning that the new acreage was a more accurate measurement of the fire’s footprint thanks to an infrared flight on Wednesday night. 

Fire behavior has been wind-driven and growth was described as slow, according to Incident Commander Mike Behrens’ Thursday morning report.

As of Thursday evening, 211 personnel were working the fire, along with three helicopters and various engines. Spencer said Thursday that more resources are arriving daily.

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According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 459 structures are reported as threatened. While resources are requested and managed by the incident management team, local crews have deployed from Eagle River Fire Protection District, Vail Fire Department and Eagle Valley Wildland to assist with the firefighting effort.

Monsoonal moisture moving into the area could result in outflow winds that could increase fire activity.

“It’s sitting in a bowl, and things that were on fire would roll down and the fire would move up the hill and it just kept doing that,” Spencer said. “It got to the top of the plateau and it couldn’t do that anymore.”

While in the bowl near Derby Mesa, the fire was encountering mixed conifer fuels, which burned well. Now, on top of the plateau, the fuel comprises more aspen trees, which have been slowing the fire.

“It gives us more options for putting in containment lines,” Spencer said. “It’s a little more accessible and fire behavior is giving us some time to get some work done.”

A lightning strike ignited the fire, which was first spotted on Sunday morning and has grown quickly over the last few days, prompting closures and evacuations.

Closures still in place

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have both issued closures in the fire area as well.

The Forest Service closure is within the Blanco and Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger Districts, starting north of Sweetwater Lake, following the Forest boundary north and east to the intersection of the Derby Loop Road (Eagle County Road 39); following Middle Derby Creek generally northwest to Island Lakes; then, generally south following the Island Lakes Trail (#1842), the W Mountain Trail (#1817), the Turret-Crescent Trail (#2269) and the Turret Creek Trail (#1838) back to Sweetwater Lake.

This closure affects BLM lands north and west of the town of Gypsum that are north of Coffee Pot Road; west of the Colorado River; east of the White River National Forest boundary; and south of Derby Creek.

Resources related to the Derby Fire can be found on ECEmergency.org.

— Shelby Valicenti contributed reporting.