One of the upper valley’s main power lines shorted out on Saturday night, causing a small brush fire that almost led to a widespread power outage.
The short caused some plastic casing to melt and drip to the ground from the power line, which is near the North Forty subdivision. The hot plastic dripped into a brushy area and ignited the brush fire, to which Aspen fire department and Pitkin County sheriff’s office authorities responded at approximately 11:30 p.m.
The initial short caused a power outage along the north side of the Roaring Fork River, including Starwood, McLain Flats and Red Mountain, for several hours, said Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy George Kremer.
Heather Rousseau/Aspen Daily NewsPitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Hearn and Aspen firefighter Clancy Stricklen look over the Rio Grande Trail from the Airport Business Center on Saturday night after a wildfire was quickly knocked down. The fire department considered cutting power in Aspen when a power line had to be doused.
However, that power line is connected to the main line going into Aspen, and firefighters considered shutting off power going through it to douse it with water, which would have caused all of Aspen to go dark. In the end, they decided to use some dry retardant. Aspen experienced only a few surges and brief outages.
Firefighters drove down the Rio Grande Trail with a brush truck to open access to the fire, which, fortunately, was located near the seeping rockface downvalley from the bridge that crosses the Roaring Fork to the ABC and North Forty.
Firefighters also responded to a small fire of unknown cause at the Mountain Valley subdivision on Saturday afternoon, according to Kremer.
The 3-foot-wide fire raced through the cottonwoods near Highway 82 at the Mountain Valley entrance for about 45 feet before it was extinguished.
The fire occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m. Two local men were trying to stamp it out when firefighters arrived, said Kremer.
