The trash truck dropped “a hot load” at an unspecified location south of Franktown, which sparked the 1,081-acre Dahlberg fire, according to an update from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The update did not specify why the truck dropped the load.
Dry vegetation and up to 20 mph winds allowed the flames to spread quickly, county officials said. The fire was first reported near Dahlberg and Lake Gulch roads at 12:39 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 8 miles south of Franktown and 8 miles east of Larkspur.
More than a dozen homes and the nearby Cherry Valley Elementary School were evacuated, but no property damage was reported and residents were able to safely return home, sheriff’s officials said.
The fire was fully contained Tuesday evening, sheriff’s officials said in a 4:54 p.m. post on social media. Crews remained on scene overnight to mop up hotspots and ensure high winds didn’t rekindle the flames.
A second day of powerful, gusty winds hit the Front Range and Eastern Plains on Wednesday, fueling at least two wildfires in metro Denver and northeastern Colorado and snarling travel at Denver International Airport.
More than 100 firefighters from across the metro area responded to a grass fire that sparked at 11:30 a.m. near Pinnacle Charter High School, 8412 Huron St. in Thornton.
The fire burned across 10 acres of dry, grassy fields and charred vehicles as it produced billows of black smoke visible across the Denver area. Smoke reduced visibility on Interstate 25 to the point that state transportation officials closed the highway in both directions for more than an hour.
Four firefighters and one other person were injured by the fire, Thornton Fire Chief Stephen Kelley said at a briefing at City Hall. Their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, but no further information on the nature or severity of the injuries was available, Kelley said.
Police officers went door to door Wednesday afternoon to evacuate people after the fire started, and city officials sent out evacuation notices through the statewide Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Kelley said. Pinnacle Charter High School and several nearby businesses also were evacuated.
Thornton is in the process of switching to a different city emergency alert system and does not have one in place currently, Kelley said.
City leaders could not say how many homes were evacuated and did not provide a map of affected neighborhoods, although officials confirmed most evacuations occurred northeast of the fire.
Flames burned for more than two hours before fire crews gained full containment at 2:07 p.m. Thornton officials lifted evacuations at 3:30 p.m. Kelley said firefighters were to remain in the area overnight to put out hot spots and prevent the fire from rekindling. Continued road closures were likely because of firefighting activity, he said.
No homes were destroyed by the fire, which started on a greenbelt between a residential neighborhood and businesses, Kelley said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and crews are evaluating fire damage to businesses. Although none of the businesses’ buildings appear to be damaged, rows of cars in nearby lots were burned.
“It is our intent to get ahead of these fires so we don’t have the spread … experienced during the Marshall fire,” Kelley said. “I think we’re very fortunate today that we did not have an outcome similar.”
A firefighter rakes smoldering wood chips in an outdoor exercise area where the Huron Fire burned on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, near West 84th Avenue and Huron Street in Thornton, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
High winds fueled the fire’s “rapid spread” as most of the Front Range and Eastern Plains remained under a red flag warning, Kelley said.
“These are conditions that we continue to face on a daily basis here on the Front Range,” he said.
Grass fire that sparked near Pinnacle Charter High School, 8412 Huron Street in Thornton, on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The fire prompted evacuations at the high school and nearby businesses and closed lanes of Interstate 25. (Courtesy of Thornton Fire Department via X.com)
More than 3,000 Xcel Energy customers lost power because of the fire on Wednesday afternoon, but most outages were resolved by the evening, according to the utility’s outage map.
A grass fire burning near 84th Avenue and Huron Street in Thornton forced evacuations of Pinnacle Charter High School and nearby businesses on Feb. 25, 2026. (Courtesy of the Thornton Police Department)
A second wildfire charred at least an estimated 3,500 acres of grassland in Logan County on Wednesday afternoon, threatening the small town of Padroni and forcing the population of about two dozen residents to evacuate.
The fire was started by a crash on Colorado 113 near Logan County Road 66 at 1:20 p.m. and spread quickly as wind gusts reached 50 mph, emergency officials said.
Logan County officials ordered evacuations between County Road 66 south to Colorado 138 and Colorado 113 east to County Road 65, including Padroni, Peetz, Iliff and the Caliche School.
Fire crews gained 80% containment as of 4:26 p.m., allowing county officials to lift evacuation orders, emergency management officials said on Facebook.
State and local agencies responded to fight the fire, including two air tankers and several farmers with tractors. No damage to structures or injuries to people or livestock was reported, Logan County officials said.
Wind-related problems extended to the skies Wednesday, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground delay at Denver International Airport because of the weather, delaying nearly 900 flights as gusts peaked at 55 mph.
United Airlines reported 316 delays and four cancellations as of Wednesday night. Southwest had 254 delays, and SkyWest had 218 delays and one canceled flight, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
High winds may continue to plague Colorado through Friday, although forecasters are not confident about what the next few days will bring, National Weather Service officials said Wednesday night.
Uncertain wind conditions and borderline low humidity levels are enough for forecasters to continue a fire weather watch for communities along the I-25 corridor and the Eastern Plains, forecasters wrote.
A watch means conditions are “favorable for rapid fire spread,” and people should avoid outdoor burning or any activity that produces a spark, according to the agency.
Residents in a small town on Colorado’s Eastern Plains were ordered to evacuate Wednesday afternoon after a grass fire sparked from a vehicle crash nearby, fueled by strong winds and dry vegetation, according to fire officials.
The fire burned between 3,500 to 4,000 acres and drew responses from departments in eastern Colorado and Nebraska.
The fire ignited at roughly 1:20 p.m. near the intersection of Colorado 113 and Logan County Road 66, according to a news release from the Logan County Office of Emergency Management. Winds at that time were between 25 and 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph, driving the fire through rough, dry terrain.
The fire was 80% contained as of 4:26 p.m., the release stated.
The first orders were issued just before 2 p.m. Wednesday for the town of Padroni, home to roughly two dozen people in northeast Colorado, according to the Sterling Fire Department. The town is about 11 miles north of Sterling.
By 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the evacuation zone had expanded to include parts of Peetz and Iliff, according to the Logan Office of Emergency Management. The zone included residents along Colorado 113 between County Road 62 and County Road 67.5, and in the area south to U.S. 138, according to the office.
Colorado 113 in Logan County reopened between County Road 56 north of Padroni and County Road 74 in Peetz as of 3:59 p.m., according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The closure, from milemarker 9 to 16, was caused by fire activity, according to the agency.
A wildfire scorched more than 1,000 acres of dry, grassy terrain south of Franktown on Tuesday, forcing evacuations as gusty winds pushed flames toward nearby homes.
The Dahlberg fire was first reported near Dahlberg and Lake Gulch roads at 12:39 p.m., Douglas County sheriff’s officials said. The area is roughly 8 miles south of Franktown and 8 miles east of Larkspur.
Tinder-dry fuels, drought and winds up to 20 mph allowed the fire to grow quickly, county Emergency Management Director Mike Alexander said at a briefing.
Douglas County sheriff’s deputies began evacuating nearby homes immediately, Patrol Division Chief Joel White said. Deputies contacted 20 homes threatened by the fire, and 17 of those evacuated, he said.
The nearby Cherry Valley Elementary School was ordered to hold students in place and released them from school early so parents and guardians could pick up their children, White said. The school was fully evacuated as of 4 p.m.
Firefighters from across metro Denver, including an air tanker from Colorado Springs and a helicopter from Broomfield, responded to the scene and gained full containment on the 1,081-acre fire just before 5 p.m., sheriff’s officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and no building or property damage was reported.
Dahlberg Road remained closed on Tuesday night for firefighting operations.
High winds also impacted operations at Denver International Airport on Tuesday, with the Federal Aviation Administration ordering a ground stop and airlines delaying 385 flights and canceling 25 flights as of 6 p.m.
Gusty winds are expected to return to the region on Wednesday, and most of the Front Range and Eastern Plains will be under a red flag warning for critical fire weather conditions from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Sustained winds up to 35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph are possible, forecasters said, and people should avoid outdoor burning and any activity that may produce a spark.
A Silver Plume house fire that sparked Sunday afternoon quickly spread to the nearby brush along Interstate 70, according to Clear Creek County officials.
No one was injured in the house fire, but the home was engulfed in flames, Clear Creek County officials said in a 3:40 p.m. statement on social media. Drivers were able to see the flames from I-70 and called 911.
Less than 20 minutes later, the flames had spread to the nearby wilderness and more units were called in to respond to the growing brush fire on the north side of the highway, county officials said.
A grass fire at the entrance of Coal Creek Canyon in Arvada burned more than 100 acres, prompted pre-evacuation warnings and closed two state highways on Saturday.
The Candelas neighborhood was under a pre-evacuation warning for several hours after the Plainview fire sparked near Colorado 93 and Colorado 72 at 8:35 am., Arvada Fire Rescue spokesperson Brady Johnson said.
The fire, which charred an estimated 130 acres, was mostly contained by 10 a.m. fire officials said. Law enforcement lifted pre-evacuation orders at 11:40 a.m. at reopened Colorado 93 and Colorado 72 just before 1 p.m.
No one was injured and no structures were threatened by the fire, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Plainview Fire is at 80% containment and does not appear to be related to the train tracks. Great team work from @ArvadaFire, @ArvadaPolice, @boulder_fire, Boulder Open Space, Coal Creek Fire & @ColoradoDOT. Please avoid the area due to the ongoing fire suppression efforts… pic.twitter.com/zGB2jVQeO3
The fire was largely boxed in on the northwest side of the two highways, Johnson said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and does not appear to be related to the nearby railroad tracks, according to the sheriff’s office.
The fire was reported near the intersection of Colorado 59 and I-76, just before 6 p.m., the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
“The wildfire at Interstate 76 and Highway 59 has been knocked down, and fire crews from multiple agencies have successfully contained the blaze,” sheriff’s officials said. “We are now in the final mop-up stages.”
Colorado’s Eastern Plains are currently under a red flag warning for extreme fire danger from high winds and low humidity, according to the National Weather Service.
