These zones include homes along County Road 14, at Lake Lenore, in Ponderosa Village, near Cedar Hill Cemetery and Peck’s Trailer Park. It does not include other areas on the north side of the fire east of Ridgway, which are under the mandatory evacuation order.
The sheriff’s office will begin letting residents into the area at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It’s unclear how many people have been evacuated due to the Gold Mountain Fire, and how many others have left voluntarily outside the mandatory evacuation zone.
Kristie Thompson, a public information officer for the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3, told the Plaindealer Tuesday night that incident management team members have met regularly with Ouray County Sheriff Justin Perry and Emergency Manager Glenn Boyd since the team assumed management of the fire on June 29 and discuss any recommended changes to evacuation zones. She said the incident management team makes those recommendations, but that the final decision rests with the sheriff.
Perry told the Plaindealer he decided to lift the evacuation orders in zones 12 and 13 based on recommendations from the incident management team’s operations chief and incident commander.
He said the pressure to make that decision is “incredibly difficult, incredibly challenging.”
Ultimately, though, ‘it’s time for people to get back into their homes,” Perry said.
Some of the evacuees have been displaced since the fire started on June 27, when the Gold Mountain Fire began about two miles north of Ouray. It quickly spread, forcing residents along County Road 14 and in Panoramic Heights to leave shortly after the fire started.
The evacuation area later grew to include areas including Ponderosa Village, Cedar Hill Cemetery and homes along the eastern side of U.S. Highway 550. Some residents also evacuated areas on the north side of the fire, which spread up and over Baldy Mountain and along the base of the Cimarrons toward Silver Jack Reservoir.
