A fire tore through a hay storage structure and a nearby office building in unincorporated Boulder County late Aug. 16, forcing road closures and a fast-moving response that kept the flames from spreading off the property. No injuries were reported.
Boulder Rural Fire Rescue and the Boulder Fire-Rescue Department were called at about 23:45 to the area near N. 55th St. and Niwot Rd. By the time Battalion 143 reached the scene, crews were facing a working fire and upgraded the response to a fill the box, bringing in two additional water tenders.
The fire was centered on a 20-by-60-foot hay storage structure in the 5400 block of Niwot Rd., and crews also found a smaller office building burning nearby. Deputies with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office moved nearby occupied structures on the property out of the way as a precaution, and horses were relocated with help from the property owners and responding personnel. No off-property evacuations were needed because firefighters got the incident under control quickly.
That quick control did not mean a small fire. Crews found additional damage in a small shed or outbuilding, an empty grain silo, a Conex storage container, around 300 hay bales and a hay barn. Niwot Rd. and N. 55th St. stayed closed during the response while firefighters worked through the night and into Aug. 17, finishing overhaul operations and making sure every hot spot was out.
The unanswered question now is what started it. The Multi-Agency Fire Investigation Team has been notified and will investigate, while the response itself showed how quickly a fire in a hay storage structure can threaten nearby buildings, animals and access on a rural property before crews shut it down.
