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As he signed in for overnight shelter at the CU’s Coors Events Center late Monday, Julian Eagleheart said he was drained from what felt like the longest day of his life. But he didn’t expect to catch much sleep.

“I’m trying to stay positive, but honestly I have no idea if my home is still there or not,” said Eagleheart, a 50-year-old Sugarloaf resident. “I’m exhausted, but at the same time, how am I supposed to sleep like this?”

Like thousands of his neighbors in the Boulder County mountains, Eagleheart went to bed wondering if he would wake up homeless as a wildfire that started Monday morning ripped through the foothills northwest of Boulder.

It could take several days for firefighters to contain the 3,500-acre Fourmile Fire, which burned an unknown number of buildings and forced the evacuation of 1,000 homes, Boulder County officials said. About 3,500 people live in the evacuated areas, but officials had no firm grasp of how many houses had burned, said Laura McConnell, spokeswoman for the countywide coalition of fire departments tackling the blaze.

Four firefighters were relieved of duty because their homes were among the charred, McConnell said late Monday.

“That number very well could go up,” she said.

Windy conditions fueled the blaze — which originated in Emerson Gulch and was first reported at 10:02 a.m. — and gusts of up to 45 mph hindered crews’ ability to attack the flames for most of the day, Boulder County sheriff’s Cmdr. Rick Brough said.

The Sheriff’s Office has requested state and federal assistance, and a half-dozen air tankers are expected to help crews subdue the blaze.

“It could be several days, definitely not overnight,” Brough said.

Brough would not confirm reports that a car sparked the fire when it hit a propane tank, saying only that an investigation would occur after the flames have been “somewhat contained.”

Details on the burn area were not available, but no injuries had been reported, Brough said. He did confirm that a fire truck was lost in the blaze.

As temperatures dropped and the wind died down Monday night, firefighters expected conditions would allow them to keep the fire from spreading, Brough said.

“They’re going to be able to hold what’s out there, and hit it hard with the bombers” today, he said.



‘It’s gone’



Leif Steiner, who lives at the top of Melvina Hill Road, said he saw at least three burning houses as he evacuated Monday morning.

Steiner said he and his girlfriend, Jessica Stouder, left their house when the flames were about 150 meters away. He said he saw three burned houses on his way down to Boulder.

“By 11, it was like an inferno,” Steiner said. “It was like a wall of flames, 50 to 100 feet higher than the trees. The winds sounded like a jet engine up there.”

The couple didn’t wait for evacuation orders; rather, they packed some clothes and “a few boxes of memories” into their car and left.

Neighborhood evacuations These residential areas have been ordered to evacuate: All homes within a three-mile radius of Gold Hill; the Mountain Meadows subdivision; the Sierra Antigua subdivision; Mountain Meadows and Mountain Pines; Pine Brook; Boulder Heights; Whispering Pines; mile marker 3 Sugarloaf to Boulder Canyon; and Lickskillet west to Sawmill. School closures Gold Hill, Jamestown and Nederland elementary schools, as well as Nederland Middle/Senior High school are closed all day today. All Boulder Valley mountain school bus routes that serve schools in Boulder are also canceled. For updates, visit www.bvsd.org. Road closures As of 10:45 p.m. Monday, the following roads were closed: Olde Stage Road at Lefthand Canyon Drive, Lefthand Canyon Drive and Lee Hill Road in both directions, Gold Hill Road at Switzerland Trail Road, Sugarloaf Road at Switzerland Trail Road and at Boulder Canyon Drive, Fourmile Drive at Boulder Canyon Drive, Sunshine Canyon Drive at Mount Sanitas, Lindin Drive at Spring Valley Road and Lee Hill Drive in the 400 block.

“It was pretty much, you’re going to die if you don’t leave,” Steiner said. “We came within five minutes of having to drive through the fire itself.”

Stouder added: “If we would have waited for the call, there would have been no escape.”

Steiner said he didn’t see his house burn, but assumed it had been lost.

“It’s chaos,” he said. “My house is at the epicenter of it.”

Steiner said his house is one of 13 on Melvina Hill Road, and he’s “100 percent sure that all 13 are gone.”

“There’s 37 years of memories in that house,” he said. “Photos, pictures. I built a canoe with my dad when I was 16 years old. It’s one of my best memories of childhood.

“It’s gone.”

By Monday evening, Steiner and Stouder were at the Target store in Boulder, loading a shopping cart of what they assumed were now their “entire life’s possessions”: a comforter; two king-sized pillows; two pillow cases; socks razors; orange juice; shampoo and a hairbrush.

The couple said they planned to sleep at Steiner’s office in downtown Boulder, and both counted themselves lucky since they have insurance and escaped unharmed.

“People are more important than things,” Steiner said. “I just hope that everyone’s OK up there.”

‘Deeply saddened’

As of 11 p.m., the evacuation zone stretched from Peak to Peak Highway on the west, Lefthand Canyon Drive on the north, U.S. 36 on the east and Boulder Canyon on the south.

Mandatory evacuations were in place for all homes within a three-mile radius of Gold Hill; the Mountain Meadows subdivision; the Sierra Antigua subdivision; Mountain Meadows and Mountain Pines; Pine Brook; Boulder Heights; Whispering Pines; mile marker 3 Sugarloaf to Boulder Canyon; and Lickskillet west to Sawmill.

There were reports of residents refusing to leave and people jumping barricades, and a “technical failure” handicapped the county’s emergency notification system for two hours. Officials sent more than 2,500 messages through the system, but it’s unclear whether all the messages were received.

Only a dozen people checked into the Red Cross overnight emergency shelter at CU, but several people offered help and shelter, and hotels were busy renting out rooms to evacuees.

The Millennium Harvest House, which had about 10 families check in between 3 and 8 p.m., offered special rates for people who had been displaced by the fire. A standard room was going for $59 instead of the usual $159.

By Monday evening, the winds let up enough to get air tankers in the skies. One single-engine tanker with a 700-gallon capacity and two heavy tankers, each with a 3,000-gallon capacity, dropped retardant on the burn area until nightfall hit.

Additional heavy tankers from Boise, Idaho, were expected to arrive Monday evening and assemble at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield until a planned departure this morning.

A total of 100 firefighters and 35 engines were working on the fire as of late Monday, according to a news release from Incident Commander Don Whittemore.

He said crews were engaged in “point protection,” which includes protecting structures, clearing defensible space around threatened structures, and direct fire suppression.

Whittemore did not provide details of the homes lost, but confirmed that firefighters were among the victims.

“We are deeply saddened to report that of the structures that were lost today, some of them belonged to fellow firefighters that were assisting in today’s efforts,” Whittemore said in Monday night’s news release. “Firefighter and public safety will remain our number one objective.”

Camera Staff Writers Heath Urie, Laura Snider and Matt Sebastian contributed to this report.



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