As many as 120 firefighters and several aircraft from around the region aided Lake Dillon crews in battling the Tenderfoot 2 wildfire, limiting it to burning 21 acres of grass, sage and heavy timber east of Dillon.
The fire initially was reported at approximately 5 p.m. on Sept. 18. It was caused by sparks from a blown insulator cap on a power line that subsequently ignited nearby grasses and burned upslope. Fortunately, light winds and moderate fuel moisture (the wetness of the vegetation) kept the fire from making dramatic runs and growing rapidly, although there was some eye-catching torching of trees.
On the first afternoon, Lake Dillon Fire had about a dozen firefighters on the line joined by two engine crews from the U.S. Forest Service and two heavy air tankers dropping slurry and a Type 1 helicopter ferrying buckets of water over from the nearby Dillon Reservoir. A multi-mission aircraft (MMA) from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control mapped the fire at approximately 21 acres. Support was provided by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the Town of Dillon police and public works departments, Xcel Energy, Silverthorne police, the Colorado State Patrol and the Dillon District Ranger’s office of the White River National Forest, while our colleagues at Copper Mountain Fire and Red, White & Blue Fire of Breckenridge helped to cover the Lake Dillon Fire Protection District for other emergencies.
By the second day, assistance came from a 20-person hand crew from Rifle and a 22-person initial-attack hand crew from the Upper Colorado River Fire Management Unit.
Although the neighborhoods of Corinthian Hills and Oro Grande were closest to the fire, no evacuations were ordered. Trails in the Tenderfoot/Oro Grande area were closed during firefighting, and special efforts were made to protect high-tension power lines traversing the burn area, and contingencies were in place to protect a microwave-communications installation and, should the fire have run into the adjacent Straight Creek area, to protect Dillon’s watershed and Interstate 70. “With fires in Summit County, almost every location has a high level of risk,” said Eric White, the Incident Commander for the U.S. Forest Service.
In all, no structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.
The fire was 100 percent contained on Sept. 22.