Larimer County’s share of the cost of fighting the 231-acre Seaman Fire is expected to be around $100,000.
The fire, sparked by lightning Sept. 11, burned mostly U.S. Forest Service land but did spread onto some private property west of Fort Collins in the lower Poudre Canyon. Crews battled the fire for several days before reaching full containment Friday.
The total cost of fire suppression is still being tallied, but Justin Whitesell, the county’s emergency operations manager, told the county commissioners Tuesday that it is expected to reach $1.1 million. Most of the cost will be paid by the Forest Service, but Larimer County will pay a percentage for the days it burned on private land in the county.
The U.S. Forest Service will be fully responsible for the days the fire was solely on the federal land, which amounts to about $400,000, Whitesell explained to the commissioners Tuesday. The remaining costs, which could reach $700,000, will be split by the ratio of federal to county acres.
Larimer County’s share, Whitesell said, will be about 18 percent, which he expects to be about $100,000.
County officials are looking to see how much of that total can be covered by the existing firefighting budget for the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and whether the county will have to find dollars elsewhere to cover the costs.
The fire came within a half-mile of homes on Smith Bridge Road, and those houses were under voluntary evacuation notice during the height of the fire, according to Whitesell. The conditions never rose to a mandatory evacuation, and fire crews were able to keep the blaze from burning any homes.
“With no structures lost, that is a big deal,” said County Manager Linda Hoffmann. “We’ve been through the flipside of that.”
The fire sparked near Seaman Reservoir and burned grasses and ponderosa pine entirely within the 2012 Hewlett Gulch fire area. The blaze closed the Greyrock and Hewlett Gulch trails, but those reopened Sunday.
Pamela Johnson: 970-699-5405, johnsonp@reporter-herald.com.
