Officials declare state of emergency for wildfire burning north of Ouray, Colorado

Officials in Colorado have declared a state of emergency due to a wildfire burning north of the city of Ouray.

The Gold Mountain Fire sparked on U.S. Forest Service land on Saturday near County Road 14 and grew to approximately 570 acres overnight. However, the fire grew rapidly on Sunday, reaching an estimated 4,276 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Colorado Emergency Management said the fire had grown to 7,103 acres and was zero percent contained on Monday afternoon. 

Ouray County officials have declared a state of emergency due to the wildfire. A local emergency operations center has been activated, and Ouray Fire Chief Adam Kunz and Sheriff Justin Perry are working as local incident commanders. The county says the fire is currently being managed as a Type III incident, but will escalate to a Type I on Monday morning as additional resources from the Bureau of Land Management and State Department of Fire Control arrive on site.

Steep and rugged terrain is making suppression efforts difficult for firefighters. The county says it expects more fire activity on Sunday into Monday due to high winds and low humidity.

Mandatory evacuations are in place for residents of Lake Lenore, Panoriamic Heights, Redstone Road and Peck's Trailer Park. Residents in these areas need to leave now.

A pre-evacuation notice has also been issued for residents from Black Lake to the Intersection of CR-23 and CR-17 (west of Hwy 550). That includes Idlewild and the Ouray KOA Campground. The county says people in these areas should be prepared to leave in case conditions change.

They said the City of Ouray is not under an evacuation notice at the moment, but additional areas could be included, depending on how the situation develops. County officials expect these evacuation orders to remain in place through at least Monday.

An evacuation shelter has been set up at the Ridgway Secondary School.

The Ouray County Public Health Agency has set up three locations offering free N95 masks, including:

• Ouray EMS Barn at 320 6th Avenue in Ouray
• Ridgeway EMS Barn at 251 North Railroad Street in Ridgeway
• Ouray County Public Health at 177 Sherman Street, Unit 103, in Ridgeway

County officials said they're aware of limited cell service in the city and believe a cell tower may have been damaged by the fire. They have requested a backup mobile tower to be delivered.

Highway 550 is closed between the Timber Ridge gas station and the Whispering Pines Bridge. Authorities say they expect to close the alternate County Road 17 detour to everyone but local and essential responder traffic as well.

The city has canceled this year's Independence Day fireworks show, and the Ouray Hot Springs Pool is currently closed to support emergency response for the fire.