Fort Collins: Galena Fire Closing In On 1000 Acres

Although conditions are better today for firefighters to do their job, the Galena fire has now burned up to roughly 1000 acres near the Horsetooth reservoir in Fort Collins, CO.

The fire erupted yesterday morning just after 11:30 am. As of this morning the fire near Lory State Park was 5% contained.

“This time of year, there are not a lot of fire resources available,” said incident commander for Larimer County. At a press conference this morning it was said that a Type II helicopter will be arriving today as well as 60 more firefighters in addition to the 50 that are already working on controlling the fire.

Nearly 600 emergency notifications were sent out Friday which included 50 mandatory evacuations for homes near the flames.

Today's weather forecast should be of help for the crew working on containing the fire. Cooler temperatures and chances of rain are in the forecast for the Front Range. Winds have also died down since Friday afternoon which caused erratic patterns of the fire.

The cause of the fire is still unknown but was determined to be accidental.

[CW]