Midday update: U.S. Forest Service’s David Boyd reports that firefighters will work Wednesday to hold the Sylvan Fire area that crossed Forest Road 400 (West Brush Creek Road). The crews are supported by two heavy helicopters and one light helicopter. The crews are searching East Brush Creek Road for fire extinguishers in an emergency.
In total, the fire employs up to 130 people. Firefighters have been burning on some fire lines north and east of Crooked Creek Park to keep the fire from moving further south. The crews will also work to contain the source of the fire on the north side, and people can see air tankers helping with this.
The fire is currently 3,583 acres – more than 5.5 square miles. There is currently no containment estimate. The cause is being investigated, but lightning is suspected.
The Rocky Mountain Type 1 Incident Management Team will take over management of the fire starting Thursday and will be stationed from Eagle Valley Middle School in Eagle. Local residents should be aware of the increased fire traffic in downtown Eagle.
A virtual community meeting will be held on the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Sylvan Fire burns Monday night near Sylvan Lake State Park in the White River National Forest.
US Forest Service / Special to the Daily
The White River National Forest will enter level 2 fire restrictions on Friday.
Current information on advance or evacuation notices can be found at ECEmergency.org for Eagle County and PitkinCounty.com for Pitkin County.
The White River National Forest has issued a closure order for the area around the Sylvan Fire.
The latest information, including a map of the closure when available, will be posted at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7562.
For more information on forest fire smoke visit EPA.gov/smoke-ready-toolbox-wildfires.
9 am: Crews handling the Sylvan Fire 12 miles south of Eagle are preparing for another day of active fire behavior and additional resources are on the way. The forest fire is 3,583 acres – more than 5.5 square miles – on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.
The Sylvan Fire reached the shores of Sylvan Lake on Tuesday. White River National Forest public information officer David Boyd said the fire moved rapidly late Tuesday afternoon, propelled by the wind. By 6 p.m. the fire had grown to more than 1,000 hectares in the course of the day.
Reinforcements with an additional 60 firefighters were dispatched on Tuesday to support the 75 people who were already on the fire lines. Boyd said additional staff includes a hotshot crew.
Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek said his office had secured hotel vouchers for fire departments outside of town.
Reinforcements include another heavy helicopter being added to a heavy helicopter and a light helicopter that is already on fire. Boyd said fixed-wing aircraft, including a very large air tanker, a large air tanker, and single-engine air tankers deployed from Rifle and Grand Junction, made retarded drops throughout Tuesday.
That extra manpower means the Sylvan Fire has been upgraded to a Type 2 Incident, meaning more resources come into play and other resources free up for other fires in the 2 million acre forest.
The fire reaching the lake means it has left the confines of the “box” that officials hoped to contain.
Boyd said the fire skipped a line of fire along a power line road and 400 Forest Road above.
The spread of the fire means officials are looking for new strategies and tactics to fight the fire, Boyd said.
An evacuation order was issued Tuesday prior to residents, businesses and others in the Sylvan Lake State Park area. The area includes Frost Creek, Salt Creek, and Bruce Creek.
If the fire worsens, people in these areas may be asked to evacuate.
Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for the Hat Creek, Yeoman State Park and Fulford areas. If you are in these areas, you must evacuate immediately.
If you have an immediate need for livestock relocation, call 970-379-7731. Now is the time to prepare for departure and consider precautionary movement for those with special needs, mobile property, and large animals.
Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum can be used as an evacuation center.
Hardscrabble Road is completely closed, van Beek told Eagle Town Council at Tuesday’s meeting. Anyone in areas currently designated as evacuation or pre-evacuation areas can bring horses and other large farm animals onto the Eagle County’s fairgrounds, he said.
In other remarks to the council, van Beek said the fire had moved steadily to the southeast before changing direction around 5 p.m. The fire then “took some unusual turns,” he said.
The site where firefighters work to control the fire has some features that help create natural boundaries, including aspen groves and meadows to the west. There is also a power line road on the northeast and east sides of the fire where firefighters can reinforce the fire lines. In other places along the fire line there are steep, rocky fields.
“We’re as aggressive as possible,” said Boyd. But, he added, there is currently a lot of fire activity in Colorado and neighboring states, so resources are somewhat limited.
“We don’t have everything we’d like here,” he said.
While firefighters travel to the area to fight the Sylvan Fire, van Beek stressed the importance of keeping other traffic off roads like Crooked Creek Pass, Eagle-Thomasville Road and parts of Cottonwood Pass. For full details on the closure, see ECEmergency.org.
“We ask everyone who has no reason to be up there to stay away from the area,” said van Beek at the briefing on Monday.
Firefighters have taken steps to protect the buildings in Sylvan Lake State Park. Other infrastructures at risk include an Xcel Energy transmission cable.
The City of Eagle has information on fire-related road closures at. released TownOfEagle.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=519.
Kelli Duncan and Scott Miller contributed to the coverage.
