Cameron Peak Fire Not Expected To Be Contained For Days, Highway 14 Remains Closed
(CBS4) - A wildfire burning in western Larimer County remains out of control. The Cameron Peak Fire has burned more than 13,000 acres and there is no containment on it so far.
A total of 298 personnel are battling the blaze and more staff have been ordered to help. The wildfire started on Thursday and is burning in heavy timber stands in rugged terrain 15 miles southwest of Red Feather Lakes.
Crews are building containment lines in order to protect homes in the Red Feather Lakes and Crystal Lakes area. The goal is to stop the fire from advancing towards those populated areas. Many more days of intense work by firefighters is projected before the fire starts to become under control.
Highway 14 remains closed from Guild to Rustic as a result of the firefight. The portion of the highway that is open is also very busy with firefighting teams using it to get supplies to and from the work zones. A disaster declaration is now in place for Larimer County due to the fire.
"By declaring a disaster, Larimer County can activate our local Emergency Operations Plan to respond proactively to this emerging event. "It also allows us to access state and federal resources as needed during this event," said Larimer County Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Hodges said in a prepared statement over the weekend.
South Metro firefighters arrived at the fire Saturday night. They shared images of the fire during their night operations.
No structures have been lost in the fire. A small number of evacuations remain in place.
