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Fontenelle Forest and the Bellevue Fire Department are monitoring a fire in the forest’s flood plain.Officials said the fire started yesterday. “Because of all the timber that’s down from the 2011 flood, you’ve got huge cottonwood trees that have fallen over. There’s, a lot of heavy timber burning, but it was just smoldering,” Bellevue Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Wagner said.Fontenelle Forest officials told KETV that they believe the fire was human ignited and not caused by nature or wind.”With the dry conditions and the wind, it could have been a cigarette butt from somebody walking yesterday or the day before, but with the right conditions, it can smolder,” Wagner said.Officials did not say whether someone set it intentionally or unintentionally.”Where it occurred was certainly off trail. Obviously, don’t drop cigarette butts. Don’t be lighting things. Especially with our climate right now and how dry it is, that can become a problem really quickly,” Fontenelle Forest Executive Director Tyler Irvine said.Bellevue Fire said crews worked quickly to avoid the flames spreading to nearby forest and neighborhoods.”There’s spots in the bottoms down there where if the fire were to get away, we would be very hard pressed to stop it. Once it gets past Gifford, point, we would be chasing it all the way to Douglas County,” Wagner said.Forest officials said the fire spans about 30 acres and shut down several trails. “Our crews this season we do a lot of prescribed fire. This fire was not related to any of our prescribed fire operations. Our crew is also wildland wildfire certified. So, this is right in their wheelhouse,” Irvine said.Make sure you can always see the latest news, weather, sports and more from KETV NewsWatch 7 on Google search.NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |
Fontenelle Forest and the Bellevue Fire Department are monitoring a fire in the forest’s flood plain.
Officials said the fire started yesterday.
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“Because of all the timber that’s down from the 2011 flood, you’ve got huge cottonwood trees that have fallen over. There’s, a lot of heavy timber burning, but it was just smoldering,” Bellevue Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Wagner said.
Fontenelle Forest officials told KETV that they believe the fire was human ignited and not caused by nature or wind.
“With the dry conditions and the wind, it could have been a cigarette butt from somebody walking yesterday or the day before, but with the right conditions, it can smolder,” Wagner said.
Officials did not say whether someone set it intentionally or unintentionally.
“Where it occurred was certainly off trail. Obviously, don’t drop cigarette butts. Don’t be lighting things. Especially with our climate right now and how dry it is, that can become a problem really quickly,” Fontenelle Forest Executive Director Tyler Irvine said.
Bellevue Fire said crews worked quickly to avoid the flames spreading to nearby forest and neighborhoods.
“There’s spots in the bottoms down there where if the fire were to get away, we would be very hard pressed to stop it. Once it gets past Gifford, point, we would be chasing it all the way to Douglas County,” Wagner said.
Forest officials said the fire spans about 30 acres and shut down several trails.
“Our crews this season we do a lot of prescribed fire. This fire was not related to any of our prescribed fire operations. Our crew is also wildland wildfire certified. So, this is right in their wheelhouse,” Irvine said.
Make sure you can always see the latest news, weather, sports and more from KETV NewsWatch 7 on Google search.
NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |
