Brush fire temporarily shuts down part of Highway 52 near Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, Colo. — A brush fire briefly shut down part of Highway 52 near Lafayette amid critical fire weather conditions that were expected to remain in effect for much of eastern Colorado through Monday evening.

The small grass fire — about 300 yards long — ignited on the north side of the highway around noon Monday, according to Rick Tillery with Mountain View Fire Rescue.

Multiple crews from the fire agency responded to the scene of the blaze and quickly got it under control. As of 12:20 p.m., crews were performing mop-ups, Tillery said.

But the highway remained closed in both directions from around noon to 1 p.m. Monday.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning through 6 p.m. Monday for metro Denver and all of eastern Colorado due to high, gusty winds and relatively low humidity.

“Unlike yesterday, strong winds will be widespread today, impacting all areas/elevations and ramping up quickly mid morning. Gusts 40-50 mph will be common, locally 60+ mph in the mtns,” the NWS Boulder posted on the social media site X.

“We really need to be careful with anything that could start a spark or a flame outside. So that could be chains dragging on the ground. Sometimes even metal striking and rocks can cause sparks, certainly disposing of cigarette butts properly, we don’t want to throw them out of the window of the car as we’re driving along the road, that type of thing. And even sometimes shooting guns, things like that can cause some sparks,” Jennifer Spark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Boulder, told Denver7 meteorologist Steve Roldán Monday.

After a brief break from the winds Tuesday through Friday, an increasing fire weather threat returns this weekend with near record warmth and more wind possible Saturday.

“We’re gonna have to be watchful as we go into the spring months. And that is because the fine fuels, the grasses and things like that… Late February March, we’re still pretty dry. We’re still pretty brown outside,” Stark said.

Denver weather: From windy and warm Monday to colder and snowy Tuesday morning

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