Fire evacuation center moved back to The Ranch

Heavy smoke from the High Park Fire blowing into LaPorte has forced emergency managers to move the evacuation center from Cache La Poudre Middle School back to the McKee Building at The Ranch, the Larimer County Fairgrounds complex, at I-25 at Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland. More than 2,600 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders; about 1,000 were at the CLPMS Red Cross shelter on June 10.

At 10 p.m. Sunday, the fire, which was first reported at 6 a.m. Saturday, had reached 20,000 acres with no containment. Larimer County Sheriff’s Department said the fire is presumed to have been caused by lightning. Eighteen structures have been damaged or destroyed and one person from the fire area remains missing.

Current evacuations include:

• South of County Road 38E to Gindler Ranch Road west to Milner Ranch Road.

• North of County Road 38E, from Horsetooth Reservoir to Redstone Canyon to Lory State Park.

• Bonner Peaks subdivision.

• County Road 44H (Buckhorn Road) from County Road 27 to Pennock Pass and residents to the south approximately a mile; exit the area east on County Road 44H.

• County Road 27E to Bellvue.

• South and west of Bellvue, including the Lory State Park area, the Redstone Canyon area and Buckhorn Road up to the Stove Prairie School.

• Poudre Canyon from mile marker 111 to mile marker 118 on Colorado Highway 14 — from Stove Prairie to mile marker 118.

• Between County Road 27E and Stove Prairie Road and south through the entire Rist Canyon area including Davis Ranch Road, Whale Rock Road. South on County Road 44H 3 miles to just north of Stringtown Gulch Road.

• Paradise Park Road, Moose Horn Lane, Magic Lane and Spencer Mountain Road.

• Old Flowers Road from Stove Prairie Road to the 8000 block of Old Flowers Road.

• Stove Prairie Road north along County Road 27 to Highway 14, east along Highway 14 to approximately mile marker 111, southeast to Rist Canyon Fire Station 1, then back west to to include Wilderness Ridge Way, Rist Creek Road, Spring Valley Road and County Road 41 and all of the roads that run off of it.

Large animals may also be taken to The Ranch. The Larimer Humane Society in Fort Collins has already taken in more than 170 small domestic animals and has reached its capacity for dogs. Any additional canines in need of shelter will be handled through Advanced Animal Care, according to Humane Society spokeswoman Stephanie Ashley. Evacuees should call the LCHS dispatch at 970-226-3647 ext. 7 for any further information.

She added that the Humane Society now has enough horse trailers available but is in need of cash to help care for all the animals; donations can be made through the website www.larimerhumane.org.

Two Blackhawk helicopters from the Colorado National Guard will join the 250 personnel and nearly a dozen other aircraft currently fighting the fire in the morning. Winds should be lighter tonight and tomorrow which could help efforts to start some containment, according to the sheriff’s department.

Public information is available at the Larimer County Emergency Information line at 970-498-5500 where Information Officers are answering the phone, and at www.larimer.org; on Twitter @larimersheriff; or Inciweb at www.inciweb.org/incident/2904/.

Residents can sign up to receive emergency notifications on cell phones or email at www.leta911.org.

For complete information on this emergency, see larimer.org/emergency/emergency_detail.cfm?nam_id=85