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[edited to update acres and containment] Current Situation: The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1 will arrive this evening to assume command of the High Park Fire tomorrow. The fire has grown to approximately 1,000 acres through a combination of burnout operations and wind-driven fire. Crews have achieved 10% containment. It is burning in ponderosa pine and grass on a ridge with High Park Road to the west and steep, rocky terrain with dense fuels dropping to Fourmile Creek to the east, in Teller County.

Water and retardant drops by air resources have helped to temper fire behavior as ground crews conduct burnout operations to protect structures, focusing resources on the Lakemoor and Fourmile Creek areas. Red Flag conditions are in effect again today with predicted west to southwest winds of 15 to 25, gusting to 35 miles per hour, and single-digit relative humidity from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The Teller County Sheriff’s Office expanded evacuation orders yesterday, which now include Lakemoor Subdivision, Cripple Creek Ranches, and the Mt. Pisgah area. Pre-evacuation notices are in effect for Rhyolite Mountain Mesa, Monarch, and Lost Canyon, and multiple road closures are in place. An evacuation shelter has been set up at Woodland Park High School, and livestock can be taken to Cripple Creek Fairgrounds. Teller County is under Stage 2 fire restrictions.

Please visit the Teller County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page for up-to-date information on restrictions, evacuations, and closures. Sign up for emergency alerts at www.peakalerts.org. Stage 1 fire restrictions are in effect on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands across the Royal Gorge Field Office. Learn more at https://go.usa.gov/xuFcR.

The BLM Royal Gorge Field Office and Teller County Sheriff’s Office are grateful for support from more than a dozen responding agencies, including members of the Platte Canyon, Divide, Cripple Creek, Tallahassee, Florissant, Fourmile, and Mountain Communities fire protection districts; Victor, Northeast Teller, and Lake George fire departments; Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, U.S. Forest Service, Southwest Teller Ambulance Service, Woodland Park and Cripple Creek police departments, Park County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado State Patrol, and BLM. Approximately 150 air and ground resources are assigned to the fire, including Colorado Department of Fire Prevention and Control’s Multi Mission Aircraft, one Type 1 and one Type 2 helicopters, an air attack platform, and multiple fire engines, fire suppression modules, and dozers.

High Park Fire Information:

Reported: May 12, 2022, 4:16 p.m.

Location: 5.5 miles west of Cripple Creek

Size: Approximately 1,000 acres

Percent Contained: 10% 

Cause: Unknown

Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8102/