TELLER COUNTY — The official Twitter account for the Florissant Fossil Beds (@FlorissantNPS) has reported that the fire was caused by a lightning strike. Forward progression on the fire has been stopped and there has been significant precipitation in that area.
As of Thursday fire officials on the scene said that the fire is 100% contained.
As of 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, all pre-evacuation warnings were lifted.
The United States Forest Service is reporting that the Fossil Beds Fire is 90% contained as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening.
The fire in Teller County was located at Lower Twin Rocks Rd at Barksdale. The Teller County Sheriff's Office sent out pre-evacuation warnings for the Twin Rock, the Druid Hills, and the Palmer Village Subdivisions.
An evacuation order was in effect Wednesday afternoon for the Palmer Village Subdivision but has since been lifted.
According to the sheriff's office, the fire is located on the east side of the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The fire is an estimated 14 acres in size.
The east side of the Florissant Fossil Beds was closed to the public Wednesday afternoon. In a Twitter post Thursday the monument said all trails in the park and the Barksdale Picnic area are now open.
According to officials at the scene, fire crews have been able to halt the forward progression of the fire.
The closest major intersection is Manchester Drive and Lower Twin Rock Rd (CO RD 42). Teller CO RD 1 and north of Twin Rocks road, including Barksdale Picnic remain closed.
The sheriff's office says multi-mission aircraft are in the air and working to help contain the fire.
Residents should be prepared to leave at any moment. If you are currently in danger, evacuate immediately. If you need more time or help to evacuate, consider leaving as soon as you can.
This story will be updated as more information is released.
Teller County uses the Peak Alerts system exclusively for emergency and non-emergency alerts. Notifications can include burn restrictions, road closures, smoke visible, and general information.
With Peak Alerts, users can register for up to 5 locations including home, work, school, relative or a friend’s address and can receive notifications via phone, call, text, app, email, web, or fax.
RELATED:
Emergency response experts say more people need to sign up for alert notifications
After action reports from some of the biggest and most devastating wildfires in our state’s history show in many cases the effort to get emergency alerts out to people in danger areas came up short. News5 talks to emergency response experts about the challenges facing emergency alert systems and how we can make sure to get the alerts you need.
In 2012 more than 10,000 calls designed to warn people to evacuate during the Waldo Canyon Fire never reached the people they were intended to help, it was an eye-opening discovery.
The good news is the El Paso-Teller County emergency alert system has gone through significant changes and improvements since then to try to reach the most people possible, but the best strategy is to make sure you and the people you care about are signed up to get these alerts in multiple ways and on multiple devices.
”To give you an idea, during Waldo Canyon I was manually forcing updates into a system,” said Ben Bills, a 14-year veteran of the El Paso-Teller County 911 Authority. The Waldo Canyon fire killed two people and burned more than 300 homes. Ever since, Bills has made it his mission to find ways to improve the emergency alert system for people living in El Paso and Teller counties.
”These messages are designed to save people and we can’t always save property right? First responders are doing their best to try to save property, but the whole intent is the imminent threat to life,” Bills told News5.
While work is being done to try to send out alerts by every means possible, the experts say you should take the time to make sure you’re signed up.
”Register as many types of communication that you can because in an emergency, lessons learned from Waldo Canyon, if we start to lose electricity or infrastructure may get damaged, those are all reducing your chances of maybe receiving an alert,” said Bills.
In 2022, News5 discovered about 63,000 people are signed up for the peak alert system serving El Paso and Teller counties, but officials would like to see that number be between 300,000 and 400,000.
”This is something it takes you three minutes to do,” said Bills. “Create a simple profile, maybe monitor it once or twice a year to make sure it stays accurate that way you can know that we have you on the list to make a notification if you are in the area we are trying to notify.”
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