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A 16-acre, wind-blown wildfire in Sunshine Canyon forced nearly a thousand evacuations in the Boulder County foothills Monday and briefly prompted warnings that thousands more within Boulder’s western city limits should be ready to flee.
The fire, which started within a structure in the 2900 block of Sunshine Canyon Drive, spread to nearby wildland, according to emergency radio traffic. That prompted mandatory evacuations for roughly 937 people across 346 homes in Pine Brook Hills and the area west of Foothills Community Park.
An evacuation warning also was issued Monday afternoon to the area of west Boulder between Linden Avenue and University Avenue, the Boulder Office of Emergency Management announced on Twitter. That evacuation warning was lifted around 5 p.m., Boulder Fire Rescue tweeted, citing limited fire spread and improving weather conditions.
Sunshine Canyon and Linden Avenue/Drive are both closed at the base of the canyon.
We have issued emergency an EVACUATION ORDER at 14:12:49 on 12-19-2022 due to Wildfire occurring in the area of 2900 Block of Sunshine Canyon. Click https://t.co/4vuYka1gDv for a map of the affected area and detailed information. pic.twitter.com/nDixXL5EKu
— BoulderCountySheriff (@BldrCOSheriff) December 19, 2022
The wildland portion of the fire is being referred to as the Sunshine Wildland fire, while a separate set of firefighters are dealing with the original structure fire.
The map of the evacuation area can be found at member.everbridge.net.
Gusts up to 40 mph were recorded as the fire spread, though winds have decreased significantly since then and should continue to drop throughout the evening, said Victoria Chavez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Sustained winds are now between 10 mph and 20 mph, she said, with some 25 mph gusts.
That’s a far cry from the conditions that helped fuel the devastating Marshall fire nearly one year ago in Boulder County. That wildfire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Superior, Louisvillle and unincorporated portions of the county on Dec. 30, was pushed by wind gusts of 70 mph to 100 mph, according to the weather service.
Boulder open space rangers are attempting to locate hikers in the area, and anyone recreating in the Mount Sanitas area is asked to evacuate the area.
The East Boulder Community Center, 5660 Sioux Drive, will open at 5:30 p.m. — and remain open all night — as the evacuation site for anyone needing services.
Evacuees can take large animals to the Boulder County Fairgrounds at 9595 Nelson Road in Longmont and smaller animals to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley at 2323 55th St. in Boulder.
Daily Camera staff writer Mitchell Byars contributed to this report.
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