COALDALE – Most of the residents forced to evacuate by the Hayden Pass Fire will return home Tuesday.
Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker said at Monday morning’s news briefing that everyone who lives on county roads near Mosher Creek, in the Eagle Peak subdivision and Fox Creek subdivision will be allowed back into their homes permanently Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, people who live on CR 6 will not get to return just yet,” Beicker said, noting a large amount of fire fighting is still taking place along Fremont County Road 6.
Beicker said making the returns possible did not come without a lot of work and coordination between the sheriff’s office and the fire’s incident management team.
Beicker said all residents returning to their homes will receive a card and directions on what they need to do, as certain roads will remain closed.
As of Monday morning, the Hayden Pass Fire had grown a little more to 16,414 acres, but remained at 30 percent containment.
Incident Team Commander Jay Esperance fully expected that containment number to grow.
“Today, we will release 13 engines and two hand crews,” Esperance said, adding a similar number of crew teams is expected to be released Tuesday.
He said those teams completed their missions, and they are needed elsewhere. Currently, Wyoming and South Dakota so are battling wildfires.
On Monday, more than 900 firefighters were fighting the fire.
Meanwhile, Jim Pitts, district ranger for the Salida U.S. Forest Service Office, said the district will begin looking at mitigation in the area.
In the next week, Pitts said district officials will look at what exactly the fire has done to the wilderness.
“We’ll do some analysis for risk of potential flooding and also look at the benefits of this fire,” Pitts said.
