On June 27, Elle Borsari was close to completing her shift at Action Horseback Adventures. It had been a regular day, busy like most at the property, but after five years of working there she was used to the rhythm of the animals and people. Like most days this summer, the weather was oppressively warm, hot enough that she wondered why somebody had lit what looked like a small campfire in the distance.
“I was with two of my coworkers,” said Borsari, “and we all decided to keep an eye out.”
Over the next 10 minutes, they watched as the fire grew rapidly. “We finally saw a full tree engulfed in flames,” said Borsari, “and that’s when I called it in.”
Borsari’s call to Ouray emergency services would be one of the first reports of the Gold Mountain Fire, a blaze that has now consumed more than 31,420 acres of land as of press time. Due to its positioning on the rugged Cimarron Mountain Range northeast of Ouray, the fire has proved remarkably difficult to contain. Local emergency resources were quickly supplanted by a federal team, Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management, on Sunday, June 28, but progress has still remained slow.
According to Tyler Nathe, operations chief for the team, balancing the risk to firefighters has meant that strategies aimed directly at extinguishing the blaze are difficult to employ.
“For those that are from the area, you know that it’s really steep,” he said, “as well as containing challenging terrain and being at a high altitude.”
Much of the burning land is inaccessible except by helicopter, meaning that crews must weigh the risk to firefighters.
“If one of our guys were to get hurt in one of those areas, we’re looking at hours to get them to safety,” Nathe added.
The fire has continued to grow in both scale and national awareness. Gold Mountain Fire is now “the No. 1 or No. 2 priority in the nation,” Nathe said.
Firefighters have continued to pour into the region, jumping from an initial figure of 200 to more than 800 within just five days. Evacuations along U.S. 550 have continued, and road closures remain frequent and unpredictable.
The impact of these fires have deprived Ouray of what is normally its busiest week of the year. As tourists cancel their trips to the region, businesses are suffering major setbacks and loss of clientele. On June 28, just one day after the fire sparked, Jeff Smiddy, owner of the Ouray Kampgrounds of America, received an evacuation alert. He was quick to begin vacating the guests: “We were up until one o’clock in the morning the night we were evacuated,” Smiddy said, “going door to door, knocking on guests’ RVs, keeping them updated and making sure that they understood what was going on.”
The financial impact from the evacuation and fire is significant.
“Compared to this time last year,” Smiddy said, “we’re probably going to lose $75,000 to $100,000. But that’s not that important, because keeping guests safe is the most crucial thing.”
Even businesses whose operations have not been affected by evacuation have faced a steep drop in bookings and revenue. Michael “Frito” Fiorito, owner of Alpine Scenic Jeep Tours, conducts all of his guided jeep drives on the trails south of Ouray, well away from the Gold Mountain Fire.
“All of the drives we have been doing are beautiful: clear skies, no smoke,” said Fiorito. “But we’ve definitely had a lot of cancellations, people not wanting to come out because of the fire.”
He estimated that his revenue this season would drop between 15 and 20%.
John Lindberg, owner of Colorado West Jeep Rentals, agreed.
“This week right here is the busiest we usually ever get,” said Lindberg, “and instead it’s the quietest I’ve ever seen Ouray during the Fourth.”
Colorado West’s cancellations are up 30-50% for this week alone and extend well into the summer.
“It’s definitely been hard dealing with so much business lost,” Lindberg said. “At one point, probably every fifth call was a cancellation.”
There is also concern about the impact of social media on tourists.
“I do think that the dissemination of misinformation online has a lot to do with why people aren’t coming out,” said Fiorito. “If people would call local businesses, we could tell them exactly the conditions we are seeing.”
Lindberg agreed, calling the online narrative “100 percent” exaggerated compared to what he sees every day. Confusion has been compounded, at times, by conflicting information from officials themselves — including an early report that a downed power line had sparked the fire, retracted a day later once investigators determined the cause was still unknown.
On the Fourth of July, Ouray held its yearly parade and celebration. There were no fireworks this year, and water fights were limited to conserve resources for firefighters. The Gold Mountain Fire had begun to creep down the hillside the day before, leaving U.S. 550 closed. Still, many gamely made the drive along County Road 17 to celebrate.
While the crowds were diminished, local spirits remained high. This attitude was reflected by many of the businesses.
“I do believe Ouray will go back to normal,” Lindberg said. “Maybe not this season, but there will be a season after that. Until then, we just have to live with the fire as our neighbor.”
