Wednesday’s dispensary fire on Poplar Street evacuated downtown Leadville and pulled firefighters from three counties to contain one building. City on a Hill made 40 burritos on the spot because structure fires in December conditions demand that level of response.
The same day, nine fires ignited across Yuma County. Fourteen thousand acres burned. Friday, Xcel cut power to 100,000 Front Range customers to prevent the same thing from happening there.
December used to mean snow cover. This year, Denver hit 68 degrees December 15—a record tied from 1921. Boulder saw one snowfall all season, already melted. Humidity dropped to single digits.
The Leadville fire required road closures on Poplar, 10th, 11th, and 12th Streets. Air quality warnings went out within a half-mile radius. Elementary students stayed inside for recess the next day because smoke from one building created breathing hazards across downtown.
Eagle River Fire, Summit Fire & EMS, and Chaffee County Fire responded immediately. Dominoes fed all responders. Family Dollar provided warm space for St. Vincent paramedics to rehabilitate crews working in cold conditions. That’s how mutual aid works in mountain communities—three counties respond to one building because next time it’s their building and they’ll need Leadville’s help.
In Yuma County, farmers brought tractors at night to cut fire lines. Emergency managers told residents: evacuate toward the nearest town with hazard lights on if fire approaches—don’t wait for orders when nine fires burn simultaneously. The largest consumed 12,000 acres near County Road 33. Two others burned 2,000 acres and 50 acres. Four structures destroyed, all sheds or abandoned buildings.
Officials believe downed power lines sparked every one. All three fires reached containment by Thursday morning.
Xcel Energy cut power Wednesday to 52,000 customers and Friday to another 69,000 along the Front Range—Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Weld counties. Businesses lost inventory. Medical equipment ran on backup power. Some customers went three days without electricity.
But no Marshall Fire happened. Four years ago, similar conditions killed two people and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes. This time Xcel gave three days’ notice instead of one hour. Frasier Meadows, the Boulder senior facility caught off guard in April 2024, got three days this week. Their holiday party went on as scheduled.
Power shutoffs reduce risk but don’t eliminate it. Yuma County’s fires ignited from downed lines despite outages. Wind knocks down trees that take out lines. Flying embers from wood stoves travel regardless of the grid.
Red flag warnings mean no outdoor burning, lawn mowers, charcoal grills, outdoor welding, or parking in tall grass. Wood stoves need ember guards, regular cleaning, and understanding that embers travel miles in 100-mph winds. When humidity hits 5 percent, defensible space matters less than whether your neighbor’s chimney sends an ember onto your roof.
Boulder’s foothills recorded 105-mph gusts Friday under the National Weather Service’s first-ever “particularly dangerous situation” warning for Colorado fire weather. Multiple small fires sparked around the Front Range and foothills. All were quickly contained.
This week, one building fire in Leadville required three counties. Nine fires across Yuma County required farmers with tractors cutting lines at night. Preventing more required 100,000 customers losing power for three days. That’s what December fire season demands now—and it’s only getting started. The next wind event will come with the same single-digit humidity and no snow cover, and success will require the same scale of response assuming the wind doesn’t shift at the wrong moment.
Support Independent Local Journalism — High Country Advocate was created as a real alternative to regional media that too often silences dissenting voices while taking sides in the political struggle. Producing in-depth, unflinching reporting like this series and others is expensive: servers, editing, research time, and legal review all add up quickly. If these articles have informed you or given you new perspective, please consider supporting HCA with a paid subscription — every subscriber helps keep this reporting strong and independent. 