Oak Ridge Fire evacuations lifted Tuesday; fire remains 5% contained

Lina Portman2 days ago

0 3 minutes read

The mandatory evacuation for residents of Middle Creek Canyon Road due to the ongoing Oak Ridge Fire in Pueblo County will be lifted at noon Tuesday, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff David Lucero announced in a news release Monday that the evacuation put in place on June 24 would be lifted “due to current fire conditions and the progress being made on the fire.”

Residents of Middle Creek Canyon Road are now in a pre-evacuation status. Other areas affected by the fire and placed in a pre-evacuation status on June 24, including Vine Mesa, Cascade Avenue, Pine Avenue and Beulah Highlands Road, will remain in a pre-evacuation status.

Where is the Oak Ridge fire on Tuesday?

In an update Tuesday morning, officials said fire activity was again limited overnight Monday and the size of the fire remained the same as Monday, at 1,190 acres with 5% containment.

No injuries were reported as a result of the lightning-caused fire and no property was damaged or destroyed.

“Additional resources continue to arrive to support the next phases of the strategic plan,” fire officials said in Tuesday’s update. “Firefighters continue to assess conditions to ensure strategic fire operations will burn at a low intensity to reduce ground fuels, protect the integrity of the Middle Creek watershed and other key values at risk, and ensure the fire is within effective containment lines.”

Firefighting operation 'heading towards transition point'

Matt Holte, trainee chief of the Oak Ridge Fire Operations Section, said during an online briefing Tuesday morning that “a lot of good work has been done” and firefighters are “kind of moving toward a transition point on this fire.”

“We have all our lines prepared and ready to go,” he said.

Holte said that in the coming days, firefighting crews will begin aerial ignition “to start getting this fire back to our lines where we can safely fight it.” Aerial ignition involves firefighters igniting fuels by dropping incendiary devices or materials from an aircraft.

“In the next few days, we’re going to start drying out today, and probably by Thursday, we’re going to be looking to have the conditions that will allow us to start that aerial ignition using drones to bring it down very slowly, in a very controlled manner, to get the appropriate fire effects that we want to mitigate the long-term risk to watersheds and communities,” Holte said.

He said operations officials held a community meeting with area homeowners and residents Monday night where they discussed how the fire plan would expand Tuesday and how by Thursday the fire map would look “very different.”

“We're adding three more divisions, we're adding some branches to help manage both sides of the fire, all in preparation for this burn operation that we're planning,” he said.

“We're expecting an increase in acreage, we're expecting between 6,500 and 7,000 acres by the time this is done. We're just going to be committing a lot of resources, so you'll see a lot more people around, they'll be out scouting today and tomorrow, but tomorrow, things will be very different when we do this update.”

The Oak Ridge Fire was first reported on June 22 and is burning about 3 miles northwest of Beulah. The Rocky Mountain Complex 3 Incident Management Team took control of the fire on June 26, and as of Tuesday, 690 personnel were on scene responding to the fire.

Air quality expected to be “good” Tuesday in Beulah and surrounding areas

The U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Response Program's smoke forecast, posted online Tuesday, said there was minimal fire activity Monday due to humidity and continued cloud cover and that “good” air quality was expected Tuesday in Beulah.

“The weather forecast for Beulah shows temperatures increasing with east/southeast winds today, changing to west/west-northwest later in the day,” the air quality report said.

Tuesday's weather forecast calls for possible showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon, along with strong winds. The Cañon City, Florence, Westcliffe, Wetmore, Pueblo and Colorado City areas are all expected to see “good” air quality Tuesday.

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Pueblo Chieftain editor Zach Hillstrom can be reached at [email protected] or on X at @ZachHillstrom. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

Where is the Oak Ridge fire on Tuesday?

Firefighting operation 'heading towards transition point'

Air quality expected to be “good” Tuesday in Beulah and surrounding areas

Lina Portman

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