Second Chance Humane Society is evacuating today due to the Gold Mountain Fire now burning east of Ridgway.

The shelter, located on County Road 10, is outside the mandatory evacuation area, but is experiencing poor air quality and lost its water service to the shelter and clinic this morning, according to Executive Director Nicholas Gilman. The flames lit up the Cimarrons last night and the smoke continued to inundate the shelter, causing Gilman to make the call to evacuate the shelter today.

“It’s so smoky out there, it’s like smoking cigarettes, and animal lungs are even more sensitive than ours,” he said. “We don’t want to wait until the last minute to do an evacuation.”

As of this morning, Gilman said the shelter still has 45 animals to relocate – 11 dogs and 34 cats. Some of the shelter staff already took home animals that require specialized care and some dogs were transferred to the Delta animal shelter, which Second Chance recently took on the contract to operate.

The fire, which started north of Ouray on Saturday, has grown to almost 15,000 acres today, according to InciWeb. It continues to be pushed by winds in a northern direction, and evacuations have taken place near the shelter, on county roads 12 and 12A in the lower Cow Creek area.

Second Chance is asking for volunteers who can foster animals to sign up through this webform. The shelter has already had more than 100 people sign up to temporarily foster animals.

Anyone who signed up in the last few days for emergency foster is asked to come to the shelter between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. today to receive a foster animal to temporarily shelter. The shelter is located at 177 County Road 10, two miles north of Ridgway.

Once all the animals have been relocated, Second Chance will make an announcement, Gilman said.