Basalt Wildfire: Human-Caused Fire At Gun Range Forces Emergency Evacuations

A human-caused fire broke out at the gun range near Basalt, Colorado, on Tuesday evening forcing emergency evacuations.

Town officials said the fire, which began on the lower section of Basalt mountain, is now moving uphill. Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection district issued an evacuation order at 8.20 p.m. local time (10.20 p.m. EDT) for the residents of Original Road, Silverado Drive, Hillcrest Drive and Pineridge areas.

Big Pinion Drive, Little Pinion Drive and any residence between Aspen Junction and Big Pinion along the North side of Highway 82 are under pre-evacuation notice and the Red Cross is working on an evacuation center for the displaced.

Basalt police officers went door to door in the Aspen Junction to inform people to evacuate.

The fire was reportedly caused by people shooting tracer rounds and Eagle County Sheriff’s Department has issued them summons.

Jessie Porter, spokesperson for the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said that two individuals were involved in starting the fire but could not confirm details of how the fire started.

“I can’t say if they were shooting exploding targets because that has not been confirmed, but I can say it is illegal to shoot them,” he said, local daily Aspen Daily News reported.

According to a press release by the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection district, the agency was informed about the fire at around 5.52 p.m. local time (7.52p.m. EDT) Tuesday. The firefighters found the fire moving uphill near on the north end of the shooting range.

According to the agency, the fire is approximately 50-60 acres in size and almost 80 homes are threatened by it. The fire is zero percent contained as of Tuesday evening.

Firefighters from Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District, Snowmass Wildcat Fire District, Aspen Fire Department, Upper Colorado River (UCR) Fire and the Rifle Helitak are on the scene and helicopters are performing bucket drops on the fire. An Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) is dropping retardant and the operations will continue on Wednesday.

Ryan Mahoney, Basalt town manager, said he had reached out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Monday to discuss closing the gun range due to extreme fire danger but did not get a call back. He said he wasn’t aware if the fire caused damages to structures.

“It did start at the shooting range, so more on that later,” he said.

Basalt Fire Chief Scott Thompson said that as of 9.15 p.m. local time (11.15 p.m. EDT) winds slowed down and the firefighters were able to make multiple passes with the helicopters.

"The winds have died down and the humidity is up," he said adding that they would be able to bring the fire under control soon, local daily Aspen Times reported.

"Yes, it's big, heading up (the mountain) and downvalley," Thompson said.

According to a Pitkin County alert, Two Rivers Road to downtown Basalt was closed in both directions.