Low Moisture In Trees A Problem With High Park Fire Firefight

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) - A federal incident command team who is now assisting with the High Park Fire predicted on Monday that the fire will continue to be a major threat for several days.

"We're dealing with a situation here on June 11 where the measured local live fuel moisture in the conifer vegetation on the mountain is 60 percent. Normally at this time of year it would be at 90 percent," said Federal Incident Commander Bill Hahnenberg late Monday morning. "So even though that fuel looks green and normally wouldn't burn at this time of year, it is burning very well. And that's why we're getting this aggressive and active fire behavior that we are. Then you mix the winds and the low humidity that we had yesterday, for example, we're going to have a lot of fire growth in this situation in this terrain."

Gov. John Hickenlooper held a news conference Monday night. He said there are some positive signs in fighting the fire.

"The wind not blowing; as long as that wind was blowing the way it was yesterday, we could have 10,000 firefighters and you wouldn't be able to stop that fire," Hickenlooper said. "Nature is coming around our way; again we're not sure what tonight and tomorrow are going to bring."

It's not clear exactly how many homes have been destroyed -- more than 118 structures have been damaged -- but Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said Monday many of the structures that burned were in the Rist Canyon area.

"We've unfortunately have had to tell a few families that their structures were gone. We've been able to tell some others that they are there and give some generally better news throughout the day as far as structures go," Smith said.

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