Unauthorized drones will suspend air operations and prevent fire suppression.
The fire is reported at 2,377 acres as of 5:30pm on Tuesday.
PitkinAlert announced at 4:51pm, July 4, that power to the Roaring Fork Valley above Basalt is at risk due to the fire. This includes the communities of Old Snowmass, Aspen Village, Woody Creek, and Snowmass Village. Residents are asked to prepare for up to 72 hours of outage.
The evacuation orders that are currently in place will remain in place with no estimated time for being lifted. These include the areas around Original Road, Silverado Drive, Hillcrest Drive, Sagewood Court and the Pineridge area. Additional evacuations ordered on July 4 at 12:50 for Homestead Trailer Park, the Wilds (Promontory and Wildsprings), Ridge Road, Pinion Drive and Cedar Drive. 1:30pm evacuations include the following streets: Homestead, Sopris, Spur, Tucker, Hillside, Curtis, Longhorn and all addresses on the north side of Midland Ave.
The Red Cross has opened an evacuation center at Basalt High School.
The White River National Forest has issued an emergency area closure order effective at 5:00 p.m. on July 4, 2018 for all National Forest Lands north of the Basalt State Wildlife Area between the National Forest Boundary and Bowers Gulch to the west, and southwest of Red Table Mountain and Frenchman Creek to the east. This includes Basalt Mountain, the Cattle Creek area, Sawmill Gulch area, the Seven Castles area, and all hiking, biking and motorcycle trails between Basalt Mountain and Cottonwood Pass.
The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Basalt Fire District, Carbondale Fire District, Snowmass Wildcat Fire District, Glenwood Springs Fire Department, Colorado River Fire Rescue, Aspen Fire Department, United States Forest Service, Upper Colorado River Fire Team, Rifle Helitak, Colorado State Patrol, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, Basalt Police Department, Salvation Army, and Red Cross are working collaboratively on this fire.
Suspects have been issued a summons by the Eagle County Sheriff's Department for shooting tracer rounds, forbidden by a Stage 2 Fire Ban, that started the fire at the shooting range.
