Colorado's Lower North Fork Fire Completely Uncontained

The Lower North Fork Fire, which started Monday, continues to burn. It has burned over 4,500 acres and is not contained at all.

The two dead have been identified as an elderly couple. There is also an adult female missing, who is known to live within the fire area. Sixteen homes have burned down, with another seven having been damaged.

Over two hundred fire fighters are on the front lines, battling the fire. Earlier attempts to begin suppressing the fire had to be called off, due to the erratic behavior of the fire. Methods have returned to defending buildings from the flames. More fire fighters are expected to join soon. Hot Shot crews are on the way from Arizona, South Dakota, and Utah.

Thanks to calmer winds today air power has been being used against the fire. A SEAT (Single Engine Air Tanker) and a Heavy P2V Tanker have been dropping retardant, as well as two National Guard helicopters, from Buckley Air Force Base, who have been dropping water.

Over 1,000 homes have already been evacuated, with 6,500 more being put on pre-evacuation notice. Areas that have been warned include: City View, Hilldale Pines, Deer Creek Mesa, Deer Creek Canyon Park, White Deer Valley, Homewood Park, Murphy Gulch, Jennings Road, South Turkey Road, South Deer Creek Canyon Road, Jennings Road, and Watson Gulch.

Chatfield and Conifer High Schools had been being used as evacuation locations. That however is changing as Conifer High School is being retasked as the command center, and Chatfield High School is being taken off the list.. Evacuees are being moved to West Jefferson Middle School. Animals are still being evacuated to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

An Air Quality Advisory is still in place for the entire metro area. This will likely not be lifted for a few days. Smoke levels are too high due to the continued burning. A Burn Ban is also in effect for, unincorporated Arapahoe County (Includes Cherry Creek State Park and Centennial), Boulder County, Golden, Englewood, and Denver Mountain Parks.

Jefferson County has created a Google map which shows some of the location information. Listed are evacuation spots, road closures, the original evacuation area, and the fire lines (though the lines have not been updated since 23:00 MDT Monday).

View Lower North Fork Wildfire in a larger map