At 9:45 a.m. on March 18, a new wildland fire sparked on Fort Carson lands in Fremont County, shutting down Highway 115, which connects Colorado Springs to the Cañon City area (Penrose). The closure of the highway is close to Beaver Creek State Wildlife Area, at mile marker 24.

UPDATE: Per the CoTrip map, this closure has since been lifted.

Per reporting from the Colorado Springs Gazette, initial reports from fire crews at the scene indicated that the blaze may have started on the highway and traveled onto Army base land.

The fire is burning in heavy fuels, thus a large column of smoke and flames are visible, per Fremont County Emergency Management. Smoke and flames can also be seen in video footage from the scene. There was no indication of the fire’s size at last report, and a firefighting response is underway.

Additional information may be published to the Fremont County Emergency Management Facebook page, with information about the road closure found on the Colorado Department of Transportation’s CoTrip website.

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