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Local News Briefs

Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

Lightning might have sparked the oil well fire at Windsor Energy’s site off of County Road 311 southeast of Silt Tuesday morning.Field Superintendent Jim Dschaak for Windsor Energy said the fire started around 6 a.m., probably by a lightning strike.”Everything is so charred you can’t tell exactly where it hit,” he said, adding that lightning probably hit the pumphouse or one of the tanks. The fire did not spread from the tanks and the immediate area around them, he said. It burned a tank, nearby pumphouse and trailer-mounted generator, and the site will most likely be out of commission for a couple weeks.Dschaak said the response of the Burning Mountains Fire Protection District was “excellent,” and that the fire was contained with foam.Brian Macke, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the COGCC was informed that the fire protection district ruled that the fire was ignited accidentally by lightning. Brit McLin, Chief of the Burning Mountains Fire Protection District, had just returned from out of town and did not have additional information.

Weather continues to be a factor in the Colorado Department of Transportation’s progress to blast and clear away rock material on State Highway 133.However, contractor Yenter Companies had good weather and good progress Wednesday, CDOT said. Crews used a crane with a man-basket to drill holes and place explosives in the two rock faces on either side of the rockfall site near mile marker 29, south of McClure Pass.Crews anticipate bringing down an additional 2,000 cubic yards of material to be hauled away. Once the rock face is scaled and stabilized, work can continue to clear material from the highway in order to get at least one lane open to traffic. It is not anticipated that a lane will be open before the weekend, but a notice will be sent out later this week and posted on CDOT’s Web site.The highway was closed on April 18.Crews will continue to work during daylight hours, seven days a week, as weather permits. Visit http://www.cotrip.org and check “Alerts & Restrictions” for updates, or call 511 toll-free from anywhere in the state.Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO


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