On Wednesday, July 5th, at 11 A.M., a mountain biker on the Peaks Trail trail reported a forest fire in its early stages on Peak Two between Breckenridge and Frisco. At this time, the fire was only burning an area about 50 feet by 50 feet. But towards the afternoon, at about 1 P.M., the fire had grown to roughly 80 acres due to the dense lodge pole pine and beetle-killed pine, believes the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
They released a statement about the difficulty of containing this wooded area, saying,
“There are three problems with that. First, it burns really hot. Second is it throws spot fires and embers all over the place. And the third is the trees can come down without warning.”
Thanks to colder and wetter weather Thursday afternoon, the fire has only appeared to expand another 4 acres, but is still only under 7 percent containment. A 21 person hotshot crew, eight smoke jumpers, two air tankers, and two helicopters are among the 130 person crew currently working to contain and extinguish the fire.
Fortunately, no structures have been damaged as of now, but 436 homes in the Peak 7 neighborhood have been evacuated.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but July 4th was the day before, and there has not been lightening in the area for a few days…
The flames sit a mere two miles away from Breckenridge Ski Resort.
