Notes from your editor, October 22, 2020

Everyone in town is talking about the nearby fires. The town of Lyons is on “pre-evacuation” warning. Lyons Parks Estates, near the high school, and Old South St. Vrain near hwy. 7, and Red Gluch and other areas in between, and south, are on mandatory evacuation orders. While the fire area has not grown much, officials decided it was better to take precautions and have people pack and leave during the daylight hours, because strong winds were expected.

The Lyons Recorder has a web page devoted to everything you could possibly need to know, which is updated twice a day. Go to: https://lyonsrecorder.org/2020/10/16/fire-emergency-info/ If there ever is an emergency in town, or timely news needs to be distributed, you can trust the Lyons Recorder to put it online immediately. This page includes links to maps, official virtual reports, emergency phone numbers, evacuation information links, lists of what to pack, and what to do before leaving your house, and more.

CAMERON PEAK FIRE: Fires went from 177,000 to 199,000 in just a few hours on Saturday. It gained approximately 20,000 acres each day the week of Oct. 12 to 17. Stop and think about that—we are talking about thousands of acres a day! On Saturday there were more than 1,500 firefighters in the area, and they were working on the edges of the fire to stop further expansion. The north and west continued to move, but they were able to slow down the fire to the south, near Glen Haven and Drake (which were both evacuated), and to the east toward Loveland (and Masonville was evacuated). At the end of the week, wind gusts reached 50 to 80mph. Highway 34 between Estes Park and Loveland was closed for two days. As of October 22, Thursday, the fire perimeter is mostly contained. It is now 206,009 acres and 61 percent contained. They expect the fire to continue to burn for weeks; containment only means that it is not spreading to new areas.

CALWOOD FIRE:  All week, Lyons and Pinewood Spring residents kept an eye out for the Cameron fire, which was 60 to 70 miles away, as the bird flies.  Unfortunately, on Saturday at 12:45 p.m., the Calwood fire burst into action. It caused dozens of road closures around the greater Lyons area, including parts of main state roads: Highway 7 (Old St. Vrain) and Highway 66 (St. Vrain Highway). By Tuesday, the perimeter section that abutted Highway 36 (Foothills Highway) between Highway 66 and Neva Road was contained, but it remains closed. On Saturday evening, residents had to show ID to travel along Hwy. 66 to get home Saturday evening.

The Calwood fire went from around 7,000 to 8,788 overnight into Sunday morning. Late Saturday the fire did jump hwy 36 near Nelson/Hygiene and burned 60 acres of grass, but was soon contained. As of Wednesday, it was 9,978 acres, 24 percent contained, and no longer is growing in leaps and bounds.

A second fire emerged by the Calwood boundaries, called the LeftHand Canyon Fire, and it is 460 acres, four percent contained. And a third fire exploded in Grand County, the East Troublesome fire, causing the evacuation of Grand Lake and Granby.

There has been a heavy barrage of slurry aircraft hitting both fires, mainly in the early morning before the afternoon winds began again.  Due to number of wild fires in the United States right now, Colorado is not able to obtain more volunteer firefighters, but they feel the 1,500+ workers are doing significant work. They are concentrating on setting boundaries for the fire and protecting structures.  

Now Lyons residents anxiously await the incoming Cold Fronts, with snow, this week to settle things down.