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Duck Pond Fire causes evacuations in western Eagle County

Residents, businesses and others in Red Hill and Eagle Court areas are also on pre-evacuation notice.

A wildland fire sparked in Gypsum Saturday afternoon and was intensified by high winds.
Karen George/Courtesy photo

UPDATE (9:47 a.m.): Evacuations for some parts of Northwest Gypsum were lifted late Saturday night. Current evacuation zones expected to remain in place until this evening due to fire suppression activities and expected wind.

Neighborhoods in western Eagle County were evacuated Saturday due to a wildland fire burning near the town of Gypsum.



The fire, on the south side of the Eagle River, required a crew from the Gypsum Fire Protection District to hike into the scene, about halfway between the Bureau of Land Management campground just west of Gypsum and the River Dance RV park.

A crew from the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District was on standby on the north side of the river, and air support was also on standby.

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The fire started at less than 1 acre in size as of about 3 p.m., but quickly spread.

The Duck Pond Fire sparked Saturday afternoon in Gypsum, prompting evacuations in the area.
Courtesy photo

Sara Fisher, who lives in Eagle River Estates on Porphyry Road, said she smelled smoke at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“I went out to check and see where it was coming from, thinking it might be a controlled burn, but then I looked to the west and got my binoculars out and realized that it was more powerful than I imagined so I called dispatch immediately and Vail dispatch informed me that they knew about it, and they had firefighters on the way,” Fisher said.

Fisher said she had not yet received any notifications about the fire from Eagle County alerts at the time, but shortly thereafter, she was informed via text alerts that I-70 was closed.

At about 4 p.m., Fisher said she received the warning that a pre-evacuation notice had been issued for her neighborhood.

“That lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, and then we got the evacuation order, she said.

The evacuation order was issued for all locations south of Highway 6 from mile marker 140 to the Dotsero interchange including Riverdance RV park and Stoneyard Distillery.

A fire Saturday sparked just west of Gypsum. A crew from the Gypsum Fire Protection District had to hike into the fire on the south side of the Eagle River.
Scott N. Miller/smiller@vaildaily.com

Leaving her neighborhood, “the cars were backed up,” Fisher said. “The big trouble there at that point was the traffic was being stopped on I-70 as well, so people were coming off I-70, so it made it a bit more of a cluster, but I got out, and my husband got out, and all my neighbors that I’ve checked in with so far are safe, so I think people have gotten out.”

Fisher fled Porphyry Road to the Eagle River Center at the Eagle County Fairgrounds where a temporary shelter was set up for evacuees.

Eagle County Commissioner Kathy Chandler Henry, left, serves food from local restaurant Moe’s BBQ to evacuees on Saturday during the Duck Pond fire.
Sean Naylor/Vail Daily

Eagle County spokesperson Justin Patrick said the fire had grown to be about 25-30 acres during the 5 o’clock hour after high winds spread flames through the area.

I-70 reopened at about 7:30 p.m.

For highway information, go to cotrip.org.

To sign up for emergency alerts, go to ecemergency.org.

—Sean Naylor contributed reporting


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