High Park Fire fills hotels, sidelines rafting outfits

FORT COLLINS – Hotels were filling up with evacuees, rafting companies were forced to shut down and power outages added to the misery Monday as the High Park Fire burned out of control.
Nearly 900 Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association customers were without power. Residents in the Rist Canyon, lower Poudre Canyon and upper Buckhorn Canyon areas were affected by the outages.

“Some of those are due to infrastructure burning down,´ said Ric Soulen, spokesman for the electrical cooperative. “Some of it’s due to the fire command asking us to de-energize some lines for the safety of the firefighters.”

The fire had burned an estimated 36,930 acres by mid-morning Monday and continued to grow, according to authorities. More than 100 structures were either damaged or destroyed.

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Firefighters saved one electrical substation near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon from burning, Soulen said. Authorities also have worked to save communications infrastructure on Buckhorn Mountain.

“As soon as they tell us whether we can get in there, repair and re-energize those lines, of course we’ll be on it,” Soulen said.

KUNC was knocked off the air on its frequency, 91.5 FM. Its main transmitter site at Buckhorn Mountain was threatened by the fire.
“It appears that all of our equipment on Buckhorn Mountain is in good shape,” KUNC President Neil Best said. “But we’ve lost power.”
The station used alternate equipment to go back on air later Monday though with a weaker signal than usual, Best said. KUNC will use a generator to produce a stronger signal tomorrow afternoon, and Best hopes it will get back onto the electrical grid Thursday.

Authorities ordered evacuations from multiple areas, including north of County Road 38E from Horsetooth Reservoir to Redstone Canyon to Lory State Park. Bonner Peak Subdivision, Poudre Park, Stove Prairie Road and Rist Canyon also are being evacuated.

Evacuees from the fire were filling up local hotels, according to Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Jim Clark.

The Best Western University Inn at 914 S. College Ave. saw evacuees from the Laporte and Bellvue areas Sunday night, renting out nearly 20 rooms to those forced to leave their homes, said Ellen Rotunno, director of sales at the Best Western.

The hotel had only seven rooms available for Monday night and was offering a 50-percent discount to evacuees.

A sister Best Western near the intersection of I-25 and Highway 34 in Loveland also has seen an increase in traffic because of evacuations, Rotunno said.

Hotels in the Poudre Canyon have shut down, Clark said, and are waiting out the blaze. Entrances into the canyon from the east, west and south are all closed, according to Clark.

Because accessing the canyon is so difficult, rafting companies have also shut down, Clark said. In general, outdoor recreation is at a standstill, with the exception of the Red Feather Lakes area, which remained open.

“I don’t know how long that is going to last,” Clark said. “We’re encouraging visitors to head to other attractions, like the breweries and museums.”

Clark anticipates that most evacuees will end up in hotels, bumping up already high seasonal occupancy rates.

Highway 14 from Ted’s Place to Stove Prairie Road was closed, leading businesses such as Mishawaka to close. The fire forced the Mish to postpone a concert Saturday, the venue said on Twitter.

“We do not want to risk the safety of our patrons,” it said.

Evacuees had overwhelmed the Humane Society with pets, leading Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital and some area pet lodges to volunteer their space.

Advanced Animal Care of Colorado had taken in 15 dogs, a parrot, as well as a couple cats and rabbits at no charge.

“A lot of hotels are not allowing pets, so we can take them here,´ said Rebecca Bernstein, customer service representative for the veterinary clinic and kennel. “We’re just trying to help out as best as we can.”

CSU canceled activities scheduled at its mountain campus at Pingree Park and moved them temporarily to campus. Students were asked to report to Edwards Hall.