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CSU Mountain Campus Threatened By Cameron Peak Fire

LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The Cameron Peak Fire burning in Larimer County is threatening the Colorado State University Mountain Campus. The CSU president sent the message to the CSU community on Friday.

CSU Mountain Campus
(credit: CSU)

The letter reads:

Dear CSU Community,

I am deeply sorry to have to tell you all that according to our teams on the ground, the Cameron Peak Fire is expected to move through our Mountain Campus today. Fire activity picked up at 1:30 this morning and today is expected to be a very active fire day, with low humidity and extreme fire behavior.

I can assure you that the Incident Command Center Crew has strong point protection in place at the campus, including hoses, portable water reservoirs, and sprinklers. The crews have been working on this plan for weeks; in the early stages of the fire they did mitigation around the campus that will be helpful as well. They have also focused on protecting other threatened structures in the area.

Crews sleeping on campus have been evacuated. Those crews fighting the fire are still there.

CSU Mountain Campus map
(credit: CBS)

Please join me in sending all of your thoughts and positive energy to those extraordinary members of our community who have been working for weeks now to deal with this fire, to prevent any harm or loss of life and to mitigate damage. We are in close contact with them and receiving regular updates.

Sincerely,

Joyce

The fire forced new mandatory evacuations early Friday morning. Just before 6 a.m., the Larimer County Sheriff's Office ordered mandatory evacuations for the Pingree Park/Monument Gulch area. About two hours later, officials ordered mandatory evacuations for County Road 44H (the Buckhorn Road) to County Road 27 (the Stove Prairie Road).

CSU Mountain Campus 2015
(credit: CSU)

The Cameron Peak fire, which started Aug. 13, is burning 25 miles east of Walden and 15 miles southwest of Red Feather Lakes. It has burned more than 131,000 acres -- making it one of the biggest wildfires in Colorado history. The Hayman Fire burned 137,760 acres in 2002 and the Pine Gulch fire burned 139,007 acres earlier this year.

The wildfire is currently 44% contained. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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