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As reported early Sunday afternoon, Oct. 13, the Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze was notified by the U.S. Forest Service that the fire had jumped the containment line above Bear Creek, crossing Rainbow Trail. By 3 p.m., Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office ordered an immediate evacuation of Silverheels Drive, Bear Creek and the two residences just west of Silverheels drive.
The fire is moving in a northeasterly direction. All other residences from County Road 108 eastbound to just west of Silverheels Drive are ordered to be on pre-evacuation notice.

Pre-evacuation orders have been issued for Zones 1, 2 and 3 near Howard in Fremont County. Residents of Wellsville and Swissvale are also on pre-evacuation notice, due to a spot fire that has flared up on the northeast side of the Decker Fire.

An evacuation center has been set up at the United Methodist Church, 228 E. 4th St, in Salida, for both Chaffee and Fremont County residents.
At the request of Fremont County, evacuees from Fremont are asked to come to Salida. All evacuees are requested to go to the United Methodist Church, to check-in for accountability, where they will have more information for you at that time.

The sheriff’s office is asking that area residents watch the Chaffee County Sheriff  Facebook page or their website www.Chaffeesheriff.org for updates. An Everbridge message will be sent out if additional evacuations are in order.

In Fremont County, Zones 1, 2 and 3 are under a pre-evacuation notice, as well as residents of the communities of Wellsville and Swissvale.

For those with large animals to evacuate in Fremont County, a message from Jeramy Neally of the Royal Gorge Rodeo Grounds tells Fremont County residents that he will be available at the Royal Gorge Rodeo Grounds located at 1595 S. 9th in Canon City.

“I will have the 4-H building open, and we have cages and pens ready. If you have water buckets and hay, that would be great…if not…we’ll find some! If you have a large number of cattle, let me know, we may be able to find somewhere to go with them.”

Neally said, “those with coggins or health certs, that would be great. It will help us with how we sort your animals.” Call Neally, who has been at the Fremont County EOC, at 719-340-0772 to tell him if you are bringing animals.

The Decker Fire is divided into two Branches:

Branch I (on the northeast side by Salida) and Branch II (on the southwest side the San Luis Valley). Then subdivided into five divisions.

Branch I - Salida

  • Division T (northeast side by Wellsville)
  • Division R (north side by Salida)
  • Division W (southeast side by Howard)

Branch II - San Luis Valley

  • Division A (west side by Poncha Pass)
  • Division X (south side by Alder)

Decker Fire Information Office

Fire Info Line:  (719) 626-1095

InciWeb:  www.inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6592/

Facebook:  facebook.com/DeckerFire2019