A six-acre wildfire on U.S. Forest Service land between Allenspark and Lyons triggered a Boulder County evacuation warning Tuesday morning as crews and air support moved in.
The blaze was burning southeast of South Sheep Mountain and north of Highway 7 on the Roosevelt National Forest when the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office put nearby residents on notice.
Denver7 reported the fire sat on Forest Service-owned land and remained small, estimated at six acres, while officials pushed a prepare-to-leave order rather than a full evacuation.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Vinnie Montez directed the warning at people living near the Dry Creek St. Vrain Trail area to the east.
Montez told residents to treat the alert as real readiness, not background noise.
"If you are in that area prepare to evacuate, get your necessary items ready to go,"
U.S. Forest Service officials said in a news release that resources were already on scene. Air resources were set to work the area and drop water on the fire.
The burn zone sits in Boulder County, Colo., in the corridor between Allenspark and Lyons. That stretch of Roosevelt National Forest is federal land, which put the Forest Service in the lead on suppression while the sheriff handled the public warning.
No cause was released. No injuries, structure damage, road closures, or full evacuation orders were reported in the initial account. Containment status was not given either.
What officials did make plain was the sequence: a small fire on national forest land, an early sheriff’s warning, ground crews on site, and aircraft coming in for water support.
Denver7 flagged the report as developing. Absolute calendar date and start time were not pinned down beyond “Tuesday morning.”
An evacuation map from the sheriff’s office was posted for residents to check the warning area. The map link was offered as the place to see the zone, not as a finished order to leave.
A six-acre fire is not a megablaze. It is still enough, in dry mountain country, for a county sheriff to tell people east of the Dry Creek St. Vrain Trail to stage go-bags and stay ready.
Montez’s instruction was practical and direct. Get the necessary items together. Be prepared to move if the warning hardens into an order.
Forest Service crews and air support were the active response on federal land. The sheriff’s office owned the civilian side: who gets told, and how soon.
That split is ordinary in Western fire season. Federal land managers fight the fire. Local law enforcement manages the people who live next to it.
Open questions remain. Officials had not named a cause, listed specific unit types beyond “resources” and air support, or said whether any homes sat in immediate path. No arrests, damage totals, or road shutdowns appeared in the first wave of reporting.
For residents between Allenspark and Lyons, the operational fact was simpler. A fire was burning north of Highway 7. The sheriff said prepare. The Forest Service said water-dropping aircraft were coming.
When the mountains light up, the first duty still falls on the household that packs early and listens when the sheriff says move.
