LOVELAND, Colo. — Firefighters working the Alexander Mountain Fire in Larimer County are gaining some ground on the largest fire burning in the Centennial state.
The area burning in the hills west of Loveland passed the 8,000-acre mark Thursday. So far, dozens of buildings have burned in Drake, some of them homes.
On Friday, damage assessment teams in Larimer County will be in the area to map out a more exact accounting of what was lost.
Now, more than 5,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, waiting for answers about their homes while the fire still burns.
Among those under evacuation include the popular dude ranch, Sylvan Dale Ranch, and the horses that live there.
"And it's stressful because you never know what's coming your way," said Josh Ciardullo, a cattle rancher in Larimer County.
It's been a chaotic few days for Ciardullo, who leases the land where he raises cattle from Sylvan Dale nearby.
But this week, the number of animals grazing off their grass has increased. "Well, I don't know all their names. All of these horses belong to Sylvan Dale Ranch, which is a dude ranch," Ciardullo said.
These horses were suddenly in need of a safe place to stay when the Alexander Mountain Fire sparked up Monday.
"We had to evacuate the main ranch because they were under mandatory evacuation orders," Ciardullo said. "They had the horses staged, they had a lot of volunteers with trailers waiting to help out."
Fifty horses needed to move and fast. Two horses were hurt in the transfer when the trailers broke. Thankfully, after fast vet care and surgery, they're both now healing.
But Ciardullo said he worries Sylvan Dale Ranch is right in the fire's path.
"Unfortunately, they've lost quite a bit of property up in Cedar Park, up where they have their historic cow camp," Ciardullo said. "It's an old logging cabin where people will do overnight stays at. So, I think they may have lost that as well. We're praying they didn't."
Now, with the fire burning nearby and crews still working to bring it under control, there's little they can do but wait.
"Things can change in a hurry. So, we have our cattle here. They're staged and ready to go. We have trucks and trailers for our cattle. Everything is set up. And then, we have another property over by Devil's Backbone that's ready to go if need be," Ciardullo said. "So we really are just kind of standing by, waiting to see what happens and hoping that the fire kind of stays put and they can get a handle on it."
Ciardullo said this isn't their first time navigating evacuations, but they're never easy. Sylvan Dale was also in the path of the 2012 Cameron Peak Fire.
They're hopeful the Alexander Mountain Fire's path doesn't turn so crews can put it out soon.
For more information including how you can help the horses with their care and recovery, visit the website here.