Smoke from a small grass fire rolls over the hillside Tuesday west of Loveland. Between 5 and 10 acres burned on the other side of the ridge. -  Reporter-Herald/RJ Sangosti [copy and picture from www.lovelandfyi.com]

 

"Wind Whips Flames"
By Pamela Dickman
Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

With a blackened patch of land behind them, the result of a wildfire that ignited Tuesday, area fire officials warned: It is not too early for wildfire season.

A chance spark from a tractor driven by a volunteer firefighter ignited grass at Heaven’s Door Ranch west of Loveland, quickly consuming an estimated 5 acres, officials said.

Delbert Nusbaum, farm manager and a Big Thompson Canyon firefighter, said the tractor he was driving hit a rock and sparked.

“I’m pretty sure that’s how it started,” he said.

Another ranch worker called 911, while Nusbaum used the tractor to try to extinguish the fire.

“It went pretty quick,” Nusbaum said.

Crews from Loveland and Larimer County responded to the 1:30 p.m. call and had the fire out by 2:40 p.m., Battalion Chief Merlin Green said.

The burned area is on Sam Lavin’s property next to the proposed Serenade Park. The fire burned toward Rock Ridge to the east.

Firefighters worried the winds would push the fire over the ridge toward homes, Green said. It burned the hillside, but crews controlled it before it crossed the ridge, officials said.

Winds reached a high of 31.7 mph at 1:15 p.m., according to a sensor at the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District site in Loveland.

Although it is still officially winter until Saturday, residents should not be complacent about fire, officials said. Conditions are dry and fire danger is high, said Dave Mosier, emergency services specialist with Larimer County.

“It’s very dry,” Mosier said.

“All the snow we got a couple of weeks ago, that’s gone.”

People need to be careful with controlled burns and any form of fire or spark, he said.

Mosier added, “The fire potential is still pretty much in the forefront.”