Lightning blamed for 2 Boulder County wildfires

DENVER (KDVR) — Two fires were still burning Tuesday in Boulder County after being sparked by lightning on Monday, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The first fire was sparked west of Button Rock Reservoir at about 12:54 p.m. Crews contained that blaze, which appeared to still be burning as of 9 a.m. on Tuesday , according to the Forest Service. The fire had been attacked with helicopter bucket drops and ground crews. One crew was deployed to the fire via helicopter.

Forest Service crews also responded Monday to a second fire south of the Dry Saint Vrain Trailhead at about 5 p.m., according to the Forest Service for the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland. The trailhead fire was determined to be under a quarter acre in size when first reported and showed no new growth overnight.

Crews were continuing to make headway on the Dry Saint Vrain Fire Tuesday morning.

The U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday that both fires were started by lightning strikes. A multi-mission aircraft conducted a lightning detection mission and found no additional fire starts in the area, according to the service.

According to the National Weather Service Pueblo , lightning strikes are commonly the cause of forest and rangeland fires in Colorado.

“Many of these wildfires occur when lightning is generated from thunderstorms which produce little or no rainfall. This type of lightning is referred to as dry lightning,” the agency said.

The National Weather Service Boulder said about half of Colorado’s forest fires are caused by lightning. As of July 2, the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland were placed under Stage 1 fire restrictions .

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