Nearly three weeks after the Alexander Mountain fire sparked in Larimer County, the flames have been 100% contained, fire officials said Saturday.
The fire — which investigators believe is human-caused — started on July 29 and quickly spread, burning 9,668 acres of private and national forest land just west of Loveland and forcing evacuations and road closures.
Forest Service wildland fire investigators are working with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the cause of the fire. Updates on the investigation were not available Saturday.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about who or what could have started the Alexander Mountain fire to call the Forest Service Law Enforcement Tip line at 303-275-5266. Photos, videos and typed statements can also be uploaded online.
A total of 28 homes and 21 outbuildings were lost in the fire, fire investigators said in a Saturday news release.
“The [National Forest Service] wants to recognize both the hard work as well as the stress and difficulty of the past three weeks,” spokesperson Jason Sieg said in the news release. “There are members of the Cedar Park community who lost property and homes, and we will support them as best we can alongside our community partners and local agencies.”
Sieg said fire crews are moving into the recovery phase of work — monitoring and extinguishing hot spots and active burn areas until the fire is completely out.
Containment isn’t the end of a fire — it’s “the status of a wildfire suppression action signifying that a control line has been completed around the fire, and any associated spot fires, which can reasonably be expected to stop the fire’s spread” — according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Fire crews have to build the fireline, mop up the area, secure the line and hold it for several days before fire officials can confidently say the area is fully contained, Larimer County fire officials said. That’s why containment may seem slow or nonexistent even when the fire isn’t growing much.
“It’s important to note that containment does not mean a fire is out, or that the danger has passed,” according to RedZone wildfire mapping officials. “Although it is an indicator of progress, the containment percentage doesn’t always correlate to safety level around or within the fire.”
A wildfire can continue to burn for days or weeks after being fully contained as crews mop up the flames and hot spots within the containment perimeter.