Wildfires in Wolcott, Gypsum keep fire crews busy over Memorial Day weekend
Aircraft spotted a fire Monday morning after crews put out three other fires sparked by lightning on Sunday
Seth Ryan Levy/Courtesy photo
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information on the source of the fire.
Area firefighters were busy over Memorial Day weekend after multiple fires sparked in Eagle County.
Saturday’s Ute Creek fire near Wolcott began in an area where recycling is processed at the county landfill, according to Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek. Van Beek said the roughly half-acre fire sparked when several mixed materials caught fire. Once the material caught fire, it was difficult to contain, and continued to smolder into Tuesday.
The Ute Creek fire in Wolcott involved units from the Eagle River Fire Protection District, the Eagle-based Greater Eagle Fire Protection District, Gypsum Fire Protection District, and even pulled in firefighters from Vail, as well as air support and federal wildland firefighters, since the fire site was on the edge of Bureau of Land Management property.
Thunderstorms on Sunday sparked four small fires around Gypsum. The largest of the Gypsum fires, about a quarter-acre, was south of Costco, above the Siena Lake subdivision. The other fires were on federal land north of Interstate 70 and accessed via Trail Gulch Road.
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The fires in Gypsum tested the Gypsum Fire Protection District’s resources.
“We were stretched all over the place,” Gypsum Fire Chief Justin Kirkland said, adding that in addition to fighting the wildland fires, firefighters were also dispatched to a car accident, a medical emergency and other calls.
“I’m super proud of the team,” Kirkland said.
In addition to the small fires caught Sunday, another small fire up Trail Gulch was detected Monday morning by a “Multi-Mission Aircraft,” a state-owned, fixed-wing airplane that can use infrared technology to detect fires and is also used for fire mapping and other purposes. “It’s a fantastic tool,” Kirkland said.
While the fires north of the interstate were on federal land, Gypsum’s fire department was closest so it was first on scene.
With the number of lightning strikes across the valley Sunday, “Everybody (in fire districts) across the county was just taking what’s coming,” Kirkland said. “It was a good testament to the system that we have in Eagle County. Even though we might have different hats, we all wear the same coat and get the job done.”
