Fire still burning south of Eckley as strong winds continue on the Eastern Plains of Colorado
- Media Logic Radio
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
As the strong winds pushed east in the overnight hours from Wednesday into Thursday, at least 9 grass fires were ignited in Yuma County on the Eastern Plains. A majority of the fires have been extinguished.
According to Jake Rockwell from the Yuma County Office of Emergency Management, two big fires have been contained. One was 50 acres, and the other was around 2,000 acres. The biggest fire is the fire burning south of Eckley near County Road 33, or what officials are calling 'Fire-33'. It is at 12,000 acres with multiple fire agencies working to contain it. Fire crews from Sterling, Peetz, and Merino are among the agencies assisting.
Sustained winds of 25-45 mph across the region, along with very dry conditions, are fueling these fires.
*This was the message from Y-W Electric regarding the outages, and the work being done:
We are experiencing major outages across most of Yuma County and the East side of Washington county. Due to the forecasted wind and extremely dry conditions, Y-W is operating in ENHANCED POWERLINE SAFETY SETTINGS. This mode is designed to reduce the risk of fire ignition. This means that power restoration will take longer. Our crews are out repairing damage and surveying the system this morning. Our first focus is to get power restored to the towns and emergency services. We expect restoration to continue through the evening. Call (970) 345-2291 or use our SmartHub app to report any outages, and visit https://www.ywelectric.coop/outage-center for up-to-date outage information. Thank you for your patience and concern for safety as we work through system restoration.
Here is a live stream from the Yuma County Sheriff from earlier on Thursday, December 18th, regarding the latest with the fires in Yuma County:
