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April 20, 2022

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Public Information Unit, 303-441-1500

Grass fire near Table Mountain

Boulder County, Colo. - Shortly after 3:00 p.m., the Boulder County Communications Center received a report of smoke near the 5,000 block of Nelson Road, in unincorporated Boulder County. First responders arrived on scene to a grass fire, which grew to be approximately 52 acres in size.

Nearby properties were evacuated via an Everbridge message as well as a wireless emergency alert (WEA). The number of Everbridge contacts that were sent the alert was 327 contacts. No structures were lost, and no injuries were reported.

We are aware that the Wireless Emergency Alerts issued for the #TableMountainFire were received by people outside of the immediate incident area. It is important to pay close attention to the details within the alert. You can also go to www.boulderoem.com to see more information and to look at the map. Although the actual area we identified for the evacuation area was small, the 911 center has no control over where the wireless emergency alerts are actually received. Once the message leaves our system, the cell phone carriers have the authority to increase or decrease the footprint, send or decline the message. It also went out via the Emergency Alert System to television and radio broadcasters.

The origin and cause of the fire is being investigated by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and fire investigators.

The responding agencies were: Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Boulder Mountain Fire, Boulder Rural Fire, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Colorado State Patrol, Hygiene Fire, Lefthand Fire, and Lyons Fire.

The associated Boulder County Sheriff’s Office case number is: 22-1740.

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/s/ Carrie Haverfield, Public Information Specialist