A fast-spreading wildfire on the north side of the town of Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley is forcing an immediate, mandatory evacuation. The Colorado Division of Fire Protection and Control has taken over incident command of the fire.
The Monte Vista downtown Historic District. Courtesy image.
The Rio Grande Sheriff’s Office has ordered mandatory evacuation orders for the north side of Hwy. 285 between Jefferson Street and North Henderson Road. This is a large area of businesses and residences, at least ten blocks in length and at least four blocks wide. A large portion of downtown Monte Vista is a National Historic District.
As first reported by 9News, Rio Grande Sheriff’s Office is telling people to avoid the entire area around the city while crews work to combat the fire. There is no word on what started the fire.
The San Luis Valley Emergency Office says that an evacuation point is being set up at the Ski Hi Complex located at 2235 Sherman Ave.
The Monte Vista School District has evacuated Marsh Elementary School students to Bill Metz Elementary School, where parents can pick up their children. All other district schools are being released early because of power and water outages at all other school district buildings. The district is planning to run school buses on normal routes except in the evacuation areas where the fire is located.
The City of Monte Vista is the most populous municipality in Rio Grande County, with a city population of 4,444.
Featured image: House fires can move rapidly, allowing only minutes to get to safety. Image courtesy of Pixabay.
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