A burned out pickup on County Road 4 inside the perimeter of the East Troublesome fire foreshadowed some of the wreckage caused by the second largest fire in Colorado history.

On Sunday, a tour of two of the worst hit areas — the Sun Valley Subdivision and County Road 4 — highlighted the unusual nature of the East Troublesome fire, which grew by more than 100,000 acres in a single night.

The fire reduced many homes in the Sun Valley area of Grand County to a chimney and remnants of their foundation, but tucked away in the neighborhood are a few homes still standing.

Operations Section Chief Brett Thomas said Sunday that the East Troublesome fire was primarily wind driven, creating conditions where one home could be destroyed while the house next door remained almost untouched.

“You can see that the wind was so horrific, but it kept (the fire) going in one direction,” Thomas said.

He pointed out blackened trees hanging with their tips almost touching the ground as an indication of the strength of the wind when the fire ripped across the landscape.

“It’s not super common to have that sort of intensity,” Thomas added.

Fire officials estimate that the fire destroyed around 300 structures, though the damage assessment is ongoing. No buildings were lost or damaged within the town of Grand Lake, but the areas west and north of town were hard hit.

The fire broke out Oct. 14 and raced across Grand County on Oct. 21, when the blaze grew by around 20 miles in 24 hours.

The fire has burned 193,774 acres with 37% containment. A spokesperson for the fire management team said it has cost $12.4 million to fight the East Troublesome fire so far.

Wind also played a major role by limiting the kind of resources crews could use to fight the flames, Thomas explained Sunday.

“When the wind is blowing 30 mph in a dead lodgepole stand, there’s not a lot you can throw at it with aviation assets grounded because of winds,” he said. “The probability of success without a tremendous amount of aviation support is just limited.”

The high winds on Oct. 21 also challenged firefighters on the ground, creating unsafe conditions from the rapid fire spread, as well as overhead trees and power lines.

“The priorities during that event were simply life,” Thomas said.

Officials estimate that about 4,000 people were evacuated from the U.S. 34 and Colorado 125 corridors. A couple from Grand Lake, Lyle and Marilyn Hileman, who chose not to evacuate died in the fire.

While Thomas doesn’t feel like any good resulted from the fire, he said it could have been much worse if it hadn’t been for the quick response of local firefighters and those who came to help through the Mountain Area Mutual Aid plan.

“What was critical to the success is that they had a lot of assets that they were able to embed with us in a very quick fashion,” Thomas said.

With the fire activity mostly quieted down following an Oct. 25 snowstorm, the Type 1 Incident Command team will transition to a Type 3 Incident Command team on Sunday evening.