POLARIS - Grasshopper Valley is in flames.
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The Sand Creek Wildfire has grown into a monster overnight, threatening many cabins, including the beloved Maverick Mountain Ski Area. One eyewitness watched helplessly as the flames crept closer to his cabin.
“Well, it’s close to my house and several other houses in that subdivision,” cabin owner Dave Cottom said as he watched the fire Tuesday.
Dry, warm weather and winds caused the fire to grow to more than 19,000 acres. Overnight, the fire damaged the chairlift at Maverick Mountain ski area and was threatening the lodge later that afternoon.
“It’s just sad. The valley is, yeah, it’s terrible. I don’t know what to think. You know, we're losing our ski hill, which we ski there all the time,” Cottom said.
The extent of the damage was too early to tell as firefighters were busy trying to prevent the spread of the fire by using helicopters and planes to drop fire retardant and water.
Many onlookers were surprised by how fast this fire grew.
“This is a bad one. A bad one. I was involved in a fire in the Centennial Valley 20 years ago, probably as an employee for the homeowner. I was right close and witnessed a pretty rough deal. This one’s going to be worse,” Dillon resident Jack Shinkle said, noting that he helped build some of the cabins in the area.
Evacuation orders were expanded to north of Billings Creek, extending from Polaris to the Ma Barnes subdivision. Many people evacuated homes along the Pioneer Scenic Byway days earlier.
“It’s painful to see it happen and everybody else, a lot of people too, it is their full-time home,” Cottom said.
A community meeting will be held Wednesday at the Jackson Elementary School and Thursday at Wise River Community Center. Both start at 6 p.m.
