Another fire has broken out today, this time in Boulder Colorado

Fire broke out in Boulder County Colorado at approximately 1:15 p.m. near the 1500 block of Bison Drive in the Walker Ranch area. The photos in the slideshow were taken at 3:30 p.m. from Broadway in downtown Boulder CO. The photographer Jim Morin a Boulder territory rep for USFoods reported the air was full of smoke and ash covered his car in a matter of moments.

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Lighting is the probable cause of this fire just west of Boulder Colorado. State officials are asking residents to watch for lightning in their area and if they see smoke as a result of a lightning strike to call 911 as soon as possible.

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The fire fight was aided almost immediately by a helicopter and a heavy air tanker and soon after a large C-130 air tanker joined the battle.

Approximately 931 phone calls went out with pre-evacuation warnings when the fire broke out. At 5:50 p.m. an additional 100 pre-evacuation phone calls went out.

…Twenty-six evacuation notices were sent to homes in the Bison Drive and the Pine Needle Notch Subdivision. The emergency workers are asking Boulder residents to cooperate and be ready to evacuate quickly if the fire jumps the ridge and heads towards Boulder CO.

A evacuation center has been setup at New Vista High School at 700 20th Street near Broadway and Baseline Road.

Firefighting crews from all over the state of Colorado including Douglas County’s South Metro district are helping fight the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs. It is unknown whether any of those resources have been pulled to fight the Flagstaff fire in Boulder.

I’d just like to thank all of the firefighters and the Wyoming Air Force for giving us a helpful hand… Colorado is basically burning from Colorado Springs up to Fort Collins. 

And I apologize for the crappy photo quality… yay cellphones that aren’t super high tech.