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Another fire causes evacuations near Table Mountain

Wednesday afternoon, April 20, saw another evacuation of homes and animals due to a grass fire, this time near Table Mountain. A large plume of smoke west of Niwot was visible from the Diagonal Highway shortly after 3:00 p.m. and multiple calls to the Boulder County Communications Center resulted in a quick response from multiple agencies, who quickly brought the fire under control, despite windy conditions.

According to the Boulder County Sheriff's office, the grass fire grew to be approximately 52 acres in size, and nearby properties were evacuated via an Everbridge message as well as a wireless emergency alert (WEA). The number of Everbridge contacts that were sent the alert was 327 contacts. No structures were lost, and no injuries were reported.

Helicopters were deployed to drop water on the fire as firefighters on the ground battled to keep the blaze from spreading. Law enforcement officers and neighbors assisted with evacuation of horses and other animals near the fire.

Public Information Officer Carrie Haverfield wrote, "We are aware that the Wireless Emergency Alerts issued for the #TableMountainFire were received by people outside of the immediate incident area. It is important to pay close attention to the details within the alert. You can also go to http://www.boulderoem.com to see more information and to look at the map. Although the actual area we identified for the evacuation area was small, the 911 center has no control over where the wireless emergency alerts are actually received. Once the message leaves our system, the cell phone carriers have the authority to increase or decrease the footprint, send or decline the message. It also went out via the Emergency Alert System to television and radio broadcasters."

The evacuation order was lifted at approximately 5:00 p.m. At press time, the origin and cause of the fire were being investigated by the Boulder County Sheriff's Office and fire investigators.

The responding agencies were Boulder County Sheriff's Office, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Boulder Mountain Fire, Boulder Rural Fire, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Colorado State Patrol, Hygiene Fire, Lefthand Fire, and Lyons Fire.

The associated Boulder County Sheriff's Office case number is: 22-1740.

 

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