WATCH: Oak Ridge Fire crews provide update

Watch the press conference in the video player above.

(PUEBLO/CUSTER COUNTIES, Colo.) — Crews battling the Oak Ridge Fire gave an update during a press conference on Thursday, June 27.

As of Wednesday, June 26, acreage stands at 1,025. According to crews, a new reading on the fire could not be taken for an update on Thursday due to the cloudy conditions on Wednesday night.

According to Troy Mueller, Operations Section Chief Rocky Mountain Area Management Team 3, firefighters are keeping the fire in its footprint although it is not putting the fire completely out. One of the biggest challenges is the inaccessibility of the fire as it grows north.

Crews said the inaccessible terrain are “rugged country” areas. According to Mueller, accessibility is hard, and if anybody were to get hurt it is estimated to take six to eight hours to get somebody out.

Mueller said crews are developing and exploring multiple strategies that may help tackle the fire.

“We always like to have several plans because as everybody knows you can fight fire and predict where it wants to go but fire is going to do what it wants to do,” said Mueller. “It’s a natural phenomenon it is going to go where the fuels are, where the terrain is, and where the weather takes it. We want to come up with several options and are exploring what it would look like in the landscape.”

Currently, only Middle Creek Canyon Road is under mandatory evacuation. Pre-evacuation notices are posted for Bottom Mesa, Cascade Ave., Pine Ave., and Beulah Highland Road.

“For those who are under pre-evacuation, we ask that people are prepared and ready to leave if that order should come,” said Emergency Management Coordinator Joshua Johnson. “We ask that people plan to be gone for about 72 hours, don’t forget that includes not only medications and important paperwork for you and your family but also pets.”

All shelters, including the Parks and recreation facility housing animals, are on standby mode.

Crews are advising individuals to sign up for Pueblo alerts for the latest information on air quality advisories.

As for how the community may help the fire department, Jill Laca, a representative with the Beulah Fire Department (BFD) said individuals can drop off bottled water, Gatorade, and commercially packaged snacks for the volunteer fire station.

Donations can be dropped off at the BFD, Total Lending Concepts, Fidelity National Title, Rocky Mountain Realty, and Southwest Motors.

The community can also provide the BFD with monetary donations made out to the BFD or through Paypal .

ORIGINAL HEADLINE: WATCH: Oak Ridge Fire crews scheduled to provide update at 2 p.m.

Oak Ridge Fire crews will be hosting a press conference on Thursday, June 27 at 2 p.m.

In an update on Thursday morning, fire crews said they made “excellent progress” on Wednesday, June 26. Fire crews expect Thursday’s weather to have an impact on the fire with forecasted cooler temperatures and increased humidity along with the potential for thunderstorms and brief heavy rainfall.

Another update on Thursday reported that things were “trending positively” on the east part of the fire, closest to the town of Beulah. Crews reported three heavy air tankers are and will continue to drop retardant as weather permits west of the fire where most of the fire activity is anticipated to be Thursday afternoon.

“The biggest concerns for firefighters today is the steep, inaccessible terrain, as well as the southwest winds pushing the fire back that are a potential for [Thursday], as well as the chance of thunderstorms which could create strong outflow winds and really impact fire size and behavior,” said Matt Holte, Operations Section Chief Trainee for the Oak Ridge Fire.

FOX21 News will be live-streaming the event on the video player above.

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