Small wildfire singes neighborhood in Larimer County

It was a close call for residents on Wild Wing drive in Larimer County after a fire broke out on Sunday around 11:30 a.m.

Josh Montgomery lives in the area, and he first realized something was wrong when his power went out. He then saw his neighbor jumping a fence, trying to put out a small fire that had ignited in a grassy area. That's when Montgomery jumped in to help.

"Oh yeah we were dancing and running, trying to get the cats out and my wife out," Montgomery told CBS4. "There was a power line bouncing and it just sparked around kinda, and at that point it was out of control. He [the neighbor] grabbed his tracker. We tried to cut a line ahead of it, but we were too slow."

Berthoud fire crews arrived shortly after sparks began, and the first crew on scene reported two separate fires, which were spreading quickly.

"It was clipping along 2-3 miles an hour," Montgomery said.

The rapid flames got very close to homes, some just about 10-15 feet away. Copter 4 captured the burn scar from the sky, as the fires were put out.

"We were hoping this wasn't going to happen cause we know it's dry out here, especially in this area, but luckily the wind was actually in our favor," said Battalion Chief Scott Lindschmidt.

Lindschmidt said they were initially preparing for flash flooding in the area. He said the cause of the fires were believed to be "due to an electrical failure on the transformer on one of them, and then a potential power surge that caused the fire on the second part of it."

No one was injured and no structures were damaged, but Lindschmidt said one vehicle was destroyed. The fire burned approximately 20 acres. Montgomery is thankful the situation wasn't worse.

"We're all settled down now that it's contained," said Montgomery. "Our power's back on, they got the powerline fixed, so we're good."

CBS4 contacted the electrical company, Poudre Valley REA Inc, to ask them about the fires, and a spokesperson said the official cause of the fire is under investigation, and as of Sunday at 6 p.m. only one customer was still without power.