x
Breaking News
More () »

Another fire extinguished after being reported south of Boulder

The fire was south of the NCAR Fire burn area, near the north fork of the Shanahan Trailhead, according to authorities.

BOULDER, Colo. — A fire was put out after it was reported Wednesday afternoon south of Boulder, near the NCAR Fire burn area, according to authorities.

Boulder Fire Rescue tweeted just before 5 p.m. Wednesday that the "active fire has been put out. Firefighters are working to ensure the perimeter around the fire is safe and will be putting water on hot spots."

The fire agency called it the North Shanahan Ridge Fire.

About 40 minutes earlier, the fire agency tweeted that the fire was burning near the north fork of the Shanahan trailhead and that trails in the area were being closed.

Anyone who was hiking or recreating on Shanahan Ridge was asked to leave the area immediately. Boulder Open Space rangers were assisting with evacuations on open space.

"The ranger staff gets up here, closes trails, they do trail sweeps and make sure they get the visitors off the trails," said Brian Oliver, the Boulder Fire Rescue Wildland Fire division chief. "They’re also trained in wildland firefighting. We train them every year to make sure that they’re safe in the fire environment."

Boulder Fire Rescue said Thursday that investigators do not believe the fire was caused by power lines, and they found no evidence that it was human-caused. The cause of the fire remains undetermined.

"High wind days are risky for wildfires primarily because fires can spread rapidly. We also know that sometimes, winds can blow things around that may start a fire," Boulder Fire Rescue said in a tweet. "This makes fire cause determinations very difficult."

The NCAR Fire last month forced thousands of people to evacuate and burned about 190 acres. That fire was fully contained on March 27.

Boulder Fire Rescue said Wednesday's fire was 0.6 acres. It was kept small in part thanks to extra firefighters working because of the Red Flag Warnings issued on Wednesday. 

"During red flag conditions like we have today, we upstaff," said Oliver. "We have an extra type 3 engine that’s staffed today and a type 6 engine. So wildland engines are staffed extra on top of the usual structure engines. That’s a big piece, having that extra apparatus here to fight new starts."

Boulder and much of the Front Range were drier than usual Wednesday. Relative humidity was below 20%. Red Flag Warnings were in place for most of the Front Range, including Boulder. 

RELATED: Downed powerline sparked small Boulder County wildfire, sheriff's office says

RELATED: NCAR Fire now fully contained

RELATED: Colorado wildfires continue to trigger PTSD, but there are ways to cope

SUGGESTED VIDEOSLatest from 9NEWS  

RELATED: Watch 9NEWS for free on ROKU, Apple TV, Fire TV

MORE WAYS TO GET 9NEWS

Subscribe to our daily 9NEWSLETTER for top stories from 9NEWS curated daily just for you. Get content and information right now for can’t-miss stories, Next and Broncos content, weather and more delivered right to your inbox.  

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP 

iTunes: http://on9news.tv/itunes
Google Play: http://on9news.tv/1lWnC5n 

RELATED: How to customize the stories and alerts you get from 9NEWS

HOW TO ADD THE 9NEWS APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE 

ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KUSA. 

For both Apple TV and Fire TV, search for "9NEWS" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon. 

You can watch videos on demand from our top stories, local politics, investigations, Colorado specific features and even classic 9NEWS videos from the 1980s. If you missed a special program, such as a documentary, you will find them in the "9NEWS Original" channel on the app.

> See a typo in one of our stories? Let us know so we can fix it! Email viewerfeedback@9news.com.

9NEWS is the NBC affiliate in Denver, Colorado and is owned by Tegna Inc.

Before You Leave, Check This Out