Dottie Miller hopped online on Friday, running over checklists of items to take with her in the event of an emergency. It’s practically an annual ritual for her, just to make sure she has everything she needs.
In the 21 years she and her partner, David Vince, have owned a home on County Road 14, they’ve stored all their important papers in a crate and briefcase, ready to be loaded in the back of a vehicle. But there’s never been a reason to move them.
Until Saturday.
For Miller, Vince and many others, the Gold Mountain Fire marked the first time they have ever been evacuated from Panoramic Heights, Lake Lenore and other homes that dot the steep hillside north of Ouray. Some were prepared to leave right away. Others needed a little more time to gather their belongings. Nearly all evacuated safely Saturday evening, save for a few who refused to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued by the Ouray County Sheriff’s Office.
Evacuees spent the day Sunday at the homes of friends in Ouray and Ridgway watching fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters drop slurry and water over the billowing smoke and wondering when they’ll be able to return home.
“It’s unsettling, and it’s unnerving, but we’re safe. We’re with friends,” said Panoramic Heights resident Jill Mort. “It’s just a waiting game now, right?”
Authorities said Sunday no structures had been lost. The fire is believed to have started on U.S. Forest Service land on Saturday afternoon, and the cause is suspected to be a tree caught on fire by power lines. As of Sunday afternoon, the mandatory evacuation area expanded to include homes around Cedar Hill Cemetery and Ponderosa Village.
Residents in the area of Idlewild and the Ouray KOA campground were advised to be ready to evacuate if necessary.
Jerry Serman and his wife, Jan Petersen, were sitting on the porch of their home Saturday afternoon when they spotted smoke. They watched long enough to see the fire move closer to them across the cliffs, then received the evacuation order on their phones.
“It’s really kind of scary because we could see it growing,” Serman said. “We didn’t know what we’d find when we came back.”
Emergency personnel check off residents evacuating from Gold Mountain, the area off County Road 14 including Lake Lenore and Panoramic Heights on Saturday night. Photo by Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer
The couple had just returned from a trip to Palisade and, fortunately for them, still had most of their clothes packed. They grabbed their luggage, along with medication and phone chargers, and evacuated in Petersen’s passenger car, leaving behind Serman’s Jeep.
Serman acknowledged he and Petersen don’t have a bag or container of their most important belongings ready to go. The Gold Mountain Fire will probably change that.
“It makes you think, what do you have to have?” he said.
Their Panoramic Heights neighbors, Don and Jill Mort, were also sitting out on their deck late Saturday afternoon when they smelled smoke. They walked to the edge of the deck and saw flames but didn’t think too much of them.
“At that point we thought, well, it’s way up there, it’s at the edge of the wilderness, we’re probably OK,” Jill said.
But then came the pre-evacuation notice, followed by the mandatory evacuation order. Firefighters and emergency personnel began knocking on doors in the neighborhood, urging people to leave.
Ridgway Marshal’s Office Sgt. Ryan Hanson listens to Ruth Higdon explain where her friend, Michael Covington, lives up County Road 14 in a yurt. Covington doesn’t have access to emergency alerts, and she was worried he would not know he should evacuate. Emergency responders later contacted Covington but he declined to evacuate, according to county officials. Photo by Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer
The Morts, who have lived in Panoramic Heights for 35 years, loaded up six plastic tubs of important memorabilia stored in the garage. They stuffed clothes into a duffel bag, grabbed medications and their 14-year-old cat, Walden, and drove to their friends’ house at the south end of Ouray.
They left their home last year when odors from the city’s new wastewater treatment plant became too much to bear. But this is the first time a fire or other emergency has forced them out.
Some evacuees had not been home long before they needed to leave again.
Miller and Vince, who spend the winter and spring in Mexico, have been back in Ouray County for just two weeks. When they saw the smoke Saturday, Miller suggested they collect their belongings. They lingered long enough to eat dinner, then headed for a friend’s house in Ouray. Even with their level of preparedness, Vince left important items behind — hearing aids, glasses and some paperwork.
They drove up County Road 17 on the other side of the valley Saturday night and watched the flames consume countless trees across the cliffs. Their home is OK, but they know the landscape will be altered for years to come.
“It’s so sad. It’s horrible,” Miller said. “But (it’s) Mother Nature. What can I say?”
Others had to evacuate animals, including an entire herd of horses.
Ridgway resident Scarlett Cornell comforts her family’s miniature horses, Diesel and Mr. B, on Saturday night around 10 p.m. at the Ouray County 4-H Center. The Cornells loaded up their sheep, goats and horses and brought them to the fair barn as a precaution on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, the area where their livestock is corralled was issued a mandatory evacuation.
Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer.
Justin Mitchell and his family operate Action Adventures, which conducts horseback tours on Gold Mountain near the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine. They managed to evacuate their 21 horses on Saturday afternoon.
Mitchell said his kids were closing the stable on County Road 14A when they noticed the fire. He and his family decided to drive two 30-foot horse trailers from their Montrose ranch to load up the horses.
Trying to navigate up the narrow road when everyone else was trying to evacuate and come down the road, with the fire whipping above was harrowing, Mitchell said.
“That turn onto (County Road) 14A was one of the most gut-wrenching moments I have faced to see that level of fire burning above you while we’re in the canyon on the highway,” Mitchell said. Luckily, “it was not as gnarly getting out.”
They loaded the horses into the trailers, and the wind died down as they prepared to leave.
With wildfire risk on Forest Service lands they lead the horseback rides on and not enough water to grow crops at their ranch this year, Mitchell said, “Mother Nature is a tough business partner to have.”
The Gold Mountain Fire glows in the distance behind the Ouray County 4-H livestock barn on Saturday night around 10 p.m. Photo by Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer
