Colorado

After a week of destructive Colorado wildfires, crews make progress toward containment

Published

4 months ago

August 4, 2024

After a week of destructive Colorado wildfires, crews make progress toward containment

Firefighters battling three wildfires along Colorado’s Front Range continued to make significant gains in containment Sunday as more mandatory evacuation orders were lifted across Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson counties.

The Alexander Mountain, Stone Canyon and Quarry fires have burned nearly 12,000 acres, forced thousands of people to evacuate, damaged or destroyed 51 structures and killed one person over the last week.

But fire officials on Sunday spoke optimistically about firefighting efforts and the days ahead.

The Stone Canyon fire burning north of Lyons reached 100% containment Sunday night and Boulder County officials lifted all evacuation orders for people living near the 1,557-acre blaze.

The fire, which killed one person and destroyed five homes since it started burning Tuesday, is being investigated as arson.

Containment on the 472-acre Quarry fire burning near Deer Creek Canyon increased to 35% on Sunday, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mark Techmeyer said at an afternoon briefing.

The fire, which forced nearly 600 homes to evacuate after it started burning late Tuesday night, has not destroyed any structures.

Fire crews are focused on proactive burning along the fire’s western edge to increase containment, Techmeyer said. There will be planned power outages in the mandatory evacuation area Monday as part of that effort.

Scattered showers on Sunday did not make an impact on the fire but provided a much-needed morale boost for the 190 firefighters on the ground, Techmeyer said. Most of the personnel on the fire are volunteers, he said.

“We’re really happy (with) where we are,” Techmeyer said. “It was a whole different situation on Wednesday and Thursday. Everything has worked out in our favor, and we’re going to get this thing done.”

Techmeyer did not release any additional details about the arson investigation.

“There’s nothing I can share, but we’re working on it,” he said. “We want this person as bad as everyone.”

Jefferson County officials hope the remaining mandatory evacuations will be lifted in the next few days, Techmeyer said.

Firefighter Jack Pemberton refills a firetruck before returning back up Stone Canyon Road to continue fighting the Stone Canyon fire near Lyons on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)

More than 500 firefighters battling the Alexander Mountain fire 10 miles west of Loveland gained 54% containment on the 9,668-acre fire as of Sunday afternoon, county and federal officials said in a briefing.

Damage assessment teams finished surveying burned areas this weekend and found 26 homes and 21 outbuildings destroyed, Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen said at the briefing. Four homes sustained minor damage in the fire.

It’s possible more structures were damaged or destroyed that county officials don’t know about yet, Feyen said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Investigative teams this weekend found signs of human activity and multiple lightning strikes where the fire started, Feyen said.

Larimer County officials lifted more mandatory evacuation orders Sunday morning and will meet with people at evacuation centers to verify addresses and distribute credentials so residents can return to their neighborhoods this week.

U.S. 34 will likely remain closed for another week so utility crews can repair infrastructure, Feyen said.

More than 1,000 contacts are still on mandatory evacuation status, Feyen said. Households often have multiple contacts.

The Alexander Mountain fire is contained on the eastern and southern edges, and fire officials attributed the containment gains to good decisions by fire crews and an influx in resources.

“We asked for the resources, it took them a little while to get there but because of the threat, because of the values around this fire, we were able to get what we needed,” said Southwest Area 1 Incident Commander Carl Schwope.

“Right now we’re at a good place for resources and that’s why you see the progress that you see, a lot of good folks doing a lot of hard work,” he added.

Some resources will likely start being released to respond to more critical fires in the coming days, Schwope said.

Crews fighting wildfires on Colorado’s Western Slope also saw containment gains this weekend, with the 193-acre Currant Creek fire burning near Cedaredge and the Grand Mesa in Delta County fully contained on Saturday.

The Bucktail fire burning across 3,515 acres northeast of Nucla in Montrose County was 5% contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to fire officials.

No structures are threatened and no evacuations are in effect, though the fire has shown “very high spread potential and is exhibiting active to extreme fire behavior,” fire officials said in an update.

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Colorado

Seeking Revenge Against the Capitals | Colorado Avalanche

Published

7 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Seeking Revenge Against the Capitals | Colorado Avalanche

Colorado Avalanche (10-9-0) @ Washington Capitals (13-4-1)

5 p.m. MT | Capital One Arena | Watch: Altitude, 9News, My20, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)

For the second time in six days the Colorado Avalanche will faceoff against the Washington Capitals. Colorado will battle to split the season series after a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena on November 15.

Soaring Past the Flyers

The Avalanche beat the Flyers 3-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Monday. Cale Makar posted his 10th-career multi-goal game and Casey Mittlestadt added a goal. Additionally, Mikko Rantanen recorded two assists and Justus Annunen made 24 saves. Following a scoreless first period, Makar opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the slot at 8:30 of the second period after receiving Nathan MacKinnon’s set-up feed. Makar thought he had his second of the game at 10:44 of the middle frame, but the goal was taken off the board due to a successful Flyers challenge for goaltender interference. However, Makar would eventually double Colorado’s lead on the power play with his eighth tally of the season at 15:08 of the middle frame with a shot from the point that deflected off a Flyers player on its way in. The Burgundy and Blue took a 3-0 lead at 8:34 of the third period when Mittelstadt dispatched the rebound created by Rantanen’s shot into the net for his seventh goal of the season. The Flyers answered with goals from Owen Tippett at 11:48 and Tyson Foerster at 13:32 to cut their deficit to one, but the Avs held on to secure their 10th victory of the season.

Leading the Way

MacKinnon leads the NHL in points (34) and assists (27).

Makar leads NHL blueliners in goals (8), assists (19), and points (27). He’s tied for seventh among NHL skaters in points and tied for fifth in assists.

Rantanen is tied for sixth in the league in goals (12) and tied for seventh in points (27).

History

The Avalanche are 18-20-4 in 42 previous regular-season games against the Capitals. Colorado is 4-1-0 in its last five matchups against Washington dating back to the 2022-23 season.

Winning Out West

The Capitals beat the Utah Hockey Club 6-2 at the Delta Center on Monday. Alex Ovechkin scored twice, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves. Utah opened the scoring with a goal by Jack McBain at 3:05 of the first period but the Capitals responded with tallies from Dylan Strome at 7:46, Nic Dowd at 7:56, and Ovechkin at 11:05. Ovechkin extended Washington’s lead to three with a goal at 5:38 of the second period before Nick Bjugstad scored for Utah at 11:44 to make it 4-2 in favor of Washington entering the third period. Ovechkin did leave the game midway through the third period with a lower-body injury and has been placed on injured reserve and ruled week-to-week. The Caps added two more goals in the third period from Brandon Duhaime at 7:30 and Aliaksei Protas at 9:56 to win 6-2.

Putting Up Numbers on the Potomac

MacKinnon has posted 28 points (11g/17a) in 20-career matchups against the Capitals including 11 points (5g/6a) in 10 road matchups against them.

In eight previous meetings with Washington, Makar has recorded six points (2g/4a).

Rantanen has registered 19 points (8g/11a) in 14 previous games against Washington including eight points (4g/4a) on the road.

Capitals’ Contributors

Strome leads the Capitals in points (28) and assists (22).

Connor McMichael is second on the team in goals (12) and third in points (19).

Aliaksei Protas is fourth on the team in points (18), third in goals (7), and tied for third in assists (11).

A Numbers Game

10

Makar became the first defenseman in franchise history to record 10 multi-goal games.

3

The Avalanche have three players (MacKinnon, Makar, and Rantanen) in the top 10 in points. No other team has more than one.

165

The Avs have registered 165 high-danger shots on goal, which ranks sixth in the NHL.

Quote That Left a Mark

“Juice is great. I think he’s been great all year. [He made] some big saves, especially at the beginning there…So [it was a] heck of a job from Juice for sure.”

— Casey Mittelstadt on Justus Annunen’s performance on Monday

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Colorado

Residents rally to save Colorado Springs library on brink of closure

Published

15 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Residents rally to save Colorado Springs library on brink of closure

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Hundreds of Colorado Springs residents showed up at the Pikes Peak Library District Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday night in a last-ditch effort to save the Rockrimmon Library.

The library is set to close December 1. This comes after the board voted to not renew the library’s lease due to financial issues.

In a statement posted on their website on November 8, the board called the decision to close Rockrimmon a difficult one.

“A library provides access to resources and materials to everyone in the community, so considering a closure goes against the grain of our hopes for PPLD. However, our District provides access to nearly 700,000 people across El Paso County. We must make decisions that sustain the entire District.”

More than 250 community members showed up to Wednesday’s board meeting to show their support for keeping the Rockrimmon location open with another 119 tuning in virtually.

Former Rockrimmon Library manager Steve Abbott said he was glad to see the turnout.

“It shows that the community will not give up and they are going to fight to keep this library open,” he said.

For most of the almost five-hour meeting, 43 speakers took turns pleading with board members to postpone the library’s closure, extend the lease another year, and reconsider their decision to close the library in the first place.

One of those who spoke before the board, Abbott said closing the library will leave a massive gap for the 30,000 people who live in the area.

“It leaves a big library desert in the Rockrimmon area,” he said. “For a child to use a library now, they’ll have to go over I-25, under I-25, over Academy, under Academy to get to a library, and it’s six miles away from where Rockrimmon was.”

Speaker and Rockrimmon resident Jennifer Walker said closing the library would also deprive the area of a much-needed community center.

“There is no YMCA, there’s nothing else,” she said. “This is where we meet other moms when we’re desperate to talk to another human being that’s not a toddler, this is where we go to work when we need a quiet space, this is where the elderly come to use the computer or to check out books.”

The fate of the Rockrimmon Library was not on the board’s agenda and those who left the meeting tell 11 News the meeting ended with no resolution.

Walker said residents are still exploring their legal options.

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Colorado

What’s the latest on the Colorado River negotiations?

Published

22 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

What’s the latest on the Colorado River negotiations?

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a breakdown Wednesday of five potential paths forward for the fragile state-to-state negotiations surrounding Colorado River operating guidelines that must be updated by 2026.

The Colorado River, which is Southern Nevada’s primary source of water, holds a precarious future as the basin experiences historic drought and state leaders disagree on how to deal with shortages. The range of alternatives is possibly the last major announcement about negotiations to come from the Bureau of Reclamation under the Biden-Harris administration.

“We have worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring Colorado River Basin stakeholders together for a transparent and inclusive post-2026 process,” Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said in a statement. “Today, we show our collective work. These alternatives represent a responsible range from which to build the best and most robust path forward for the Basin.”

What to know heading into 2025

The breakdown between two coalitions of states, the Upper and Lower Basins, centers around whether the Upper Basin — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming — should be required to take cuts to its water allocation past what’s known as the river’s “structural deficit,” or the 1.5 million acre-feet lost to evaporation and transport. The Upper Basin has argued that it takes too many cuts already because of its reliance on snowpack instead of big reservoirs.

The Lower Basin also has called for smaller reservoirs in the Upper Basin states to be included in discussions about cuts in water usage across the system.

Notably, one of the five alternatives is based on proposals from Native American tribes, calling for the government to account for undeveloped tribal water.

The acknowledgement of the ongoing duel between the Upper and Lower Basins is the “Basin Hybrid” alternative, which appears to fall somewhere down the middle of the two coalition’s proposals.

In a statement, Upper Basin Commissioner and Colorado negotiator Becky Mitchell said it’s too early to speak directly about the five alternatives from the Bureau of Reclamation.

“Colorado continues to stand firmly behind the Upper Division States’ Alternative, which performs best according to Reclamation’s own modeling and directly meets the purpose and need of this federal action,” she said.

The Lower Basin states of Nevada, California and Arizona didn’t immediately release a statement when the announcement was released at 1 p.m.

All seven state negotiators will convene in Las Vegas in early December at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference, where experts and officials will discuss what’s to come from negotiations under President-elect Donald Trump.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.

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