Friday's Galena Fire continued to burn overnight into Saturday next to Horsetooth Reservoir. As of the media briefing Friday, the fire was estimated around 700 acres, reports later put the fire near 1000 acres.
Editor's Note: Fire authorities made on update at a 3:30 p.m. media brief Saturday. The Galena Fire is 45 percent contained with about 110 fire fighters working the blaze. Evacuees will be allowed to return after 8 p.m. Saturday. More details can be found at this post.
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Wind fueled growth of the Galena Fire all day Friday. You Tube user Nick Thomas posted this video, and you can hear that winds didn't let up once the sun went down.
http://youtu.be/WoYVywHXJ7o
The Denver Post reported Friday night that the fire could have grown to 1000 acres, an official estimate on the fire's size won't come until the first media briefing Saturday, scheduled at 9 a.m.
Dry conditions are still a concern as our colleague Luke Runyon pointed out, the Galena Fire broke out in an area of the state with the lowest snowpack total, just 69 percent of normal. Rain is in the forecast for Fort Collins, but only a 30% chance of precipitation. The Denver Post spoke with the National Weather Service on hopes for weather assisting in the fire fighting efforts.
"I don't think it's going to be a soaker that is going to put it completely out," said Kyle Fredin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder. "I don't think it will be a significant rain storm."
In addition to the above video, other dramatic videos from residents around Horsetooth Reservoir Friday (some of which you can see here and here - beware, language warning) showed the speed at which the fire grew, fueled by both dry conditions and the wind.
Another dramatic image of the fire was captured overnight by photographers with the Coloradoan:
A long exposure photo of #galenafire from one of our amazing photographers. pic.twitter.com/pEY0phne3F
— Paul Berry (@pauleberry) March 16, 2013
Friday's updates from the Galena Fire have been collected in this storify post.