A brush fire fed by strong gusts of wind charred four acres of land adjacent to Fryingpan Road just upvalley from downtown Basalt yesterday afternoon.
The fire was called in around 2:30 p.m. and valley firefighters had contained it by 6 p.m., although hot spots remain and firefighters will return today to mop them up.
It ignited at the roadside, and Deputy Basalt Fire Chief Jerry Peetz said it was “human caused,” but he could not offer a specific cause for the fire.
Fire danger was considered moderate yesterday, a day when Eagle County also lifted its burn ban. But gusts of wind up to 25 miles per hour fed it quickly as it ran uphill, fueled by dry sage brush and juniper trees.
No homes were damaged or directly threatened by the fire, which was contained before it could jump Cedar Drive into a residential area.
“If it had jumped that road, we could have been in some serious trouble,” Peetz said.
Firefighters from Basalt, Carbondale and Rifle responded to the fire, while a helicopter from the U.S. Forest Service monitored from above. The helicopter could not drop water, however, because of the fire’s proximity to several crisscrossing power lines.
Fryingpan Road and Cedar Drive were closed for most of the afternoon.
