Black Forest Fire Update: El Paso County, Colorado

The Black Forest Fire started on Tuesday, June 11. The cause is undertermined. It is located in the northeast section of Colorado Springs, within the city limits. Rich Harvey’s Great Basin Type 1 Incident Management Team took over management of the fire on Wednesday at 6 a.m.

This wind driven fire moved very quickly the first day. Current assessment has determined 473 structures have been destroyed. Several thousand residents were evacuated and are still in place. Assessment of structures is ongoing and will be updated when additional information is available. There are numerous interagency resources assigned to the fire with others arriving daily.

 

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Under Investigation
Date of Origin	Tuesday June 11th, 2013 approx. 02:30 PM
Location	Within the City limits of Black Forest Colorado
Incident Commander	Rich Harvey

Current Situation

Total Personnel	1,175
Size	15,500 acres
Percent Contained	55%
Estimated Containment Date	Thursday June 20th, 2013 approx. 12:00 AM
Fuels Involved	Timber including Ponderosa Pine plus grass and Oak Shrubs
Fire Behavior	If strong outflow winds from passing thunerderstorm occur the potential for extreme fire behavior remains.
Significant Events	El Paso County Sheriff’s office continue to do structure and damage assessments. Evacuations bans were lifted iyn the following areas: East to Meridian from County Line Rd. to Burgess, Highway 83 west to Sun Hills and Baptist Rd., Walker Rd. north to County Line Rd. and and Black Forest east to Highway 83. Highway 83 has been reopened.

Outlook

Planned Actions	Continue to secure existing fire perimeter. Emphasis will be on mop-up and extinguishment around structures to prevent further fire loss. Start fire line suppression damage repair where appropriate.
Growth Potential	High
Terrain Difficulty	Medium
Remarks	Structure counts were updated to reflect current numbers given by El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

Current Weather

Wind Conditions	25 mph SE
Temperature	79 degrees
Humidity	23%