All staff and visitors at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park were being evacuated Thursday as fire crews worked to control two wildfires burning on opposite ends of the national park.
The national park, 14 miles northeast of Montrose, is closed until further notice. One of the fires is burning near the south entrance of the park and the other is near the north rim. Both were sparked by lightning Thursday morning, according to the national park.
The Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit said Thursday night it is “working diligently with partners to respond to approximately 10 wildfires caused by lightning across the dispatch area.”
State firefighters were called to attack the South Rim fire flames from the sky as well as on the ground, the agency said. A state fire engine is also responding to the fire on the north side.
Colorado State Patrol was called to help evacuate the campgrounds in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forest area.
Ali and Ethan Cameron were camping in the South Rim campground Wednesday night when a loud blast of thunder above their tent woke them up about 3 a.m. Thursday.
“We would see the flash, within a second hear the boom, and just had a bad feeling about it,” Ethan Cameron said.
They left their tent and tried to sleep in the car for a few hours, before driving out of the park about 6:30 a.m., the couple said.
“We packed up and left real fast,” Ali Cameron said.
“It wasn’t like a thunderstorm with rain, it was literally just lightning and thunder and wind,” she added.
By the time they reached home, near the Denver International Airport at about 1 p.m., they heard that the park was being evacuated.
“We’ve been camping with our families, both of us our whole lives since we were kids, and we’ve never experienced something like this before,” Ali Cameron said.
The national park has two campgrounds, one on each rim. There is also a campground at the bottom of the canyon.
Montrose Fire District is also fighting another fire east of the fire on the south rim, the state’s fire division said.
No size estimates were immediately available.
High fire danger across the Western Slope
Fire danger is extremely high along the Western Slope, especially as strong wind gusts blow across parched land.
Two houses were burned in Chaffee County after a wildfire ignited northwest of Buena Vista on Thursday afternoon. About 50 homes have been evacuated in the Mountain View Estates subdivision.
A cause of the Mountain View fire, which had burned 60 acres by about 7:30 p.m., has not been confirmed but it was first issued as a structure and wildfire, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office.
“Fire crews made a great initial attack on the fire with aircraft, which has been very helpful,” said a Sheriff’s Office update at 7:45 p.m. A mix of local, state and federal crews have been working the fire.
Firefighters with the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests on Thursday were also fighting four separate wildfires, all sparked by overnight lightning in the area.
Two fires are burning southeast of Kannah Creek Trailhead, about 24 miles southeast of Grand Junction, according to the forest service. Another fire is near the Sanborn Park area, northeast of Norwood, and another is near Patterson Mountain, north of Norwood.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the area that remains in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday. It warned of 10 to 20 mph winds with gusts up to 35 mph and low relative humidity levels.
“Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly,” the service warned.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.