Firefighters moving along Hewlett Trail toward the fire.

A wild fire that started near the Hewlett Gulch trailhead early in the afternoon of May 14 is expected to continue through the night.

By dusk, the fire burned 150 to 200 acres on the north side of the Cache la Poudre River where the stream flows past the hamlet of Poudre Park, 10 miles into the Poudre Canyon.

Flames skirted along the dry grass and sparsely wooded areas below the summit of the 6,500-foot-tall Mt. Webster, directly north across the river from Poudre Park.

Part of the fire eventually settled into a forest on the north side of Mt. Webster while another part of the fire headed along a high ridge to the east. The fire remained on Roosevelt National Forest land.

During the night, the U.S Forest Service will bring in 80 firefighters, a helicopter and heavy air tanker to continue fighting the fire Tuesday morning, said Reghan Cloudman, public affairs specialist for the Forest Service’s Canyon Lakes Ranger District.

Mt. Webster along the Poudre River was shrouded in smoke from the wild fire. The red ban partway down the mountain is slurry dropped by a single-engine tanker plane to douse part of the fire and keep it from moving down the mountain and into the Poudre Park community.

The fire was reported about 1 p.m. Firefighters from the Poudre Canyon Volunteer Fire District, Larimer County EMS and the Forest Service responded.

A single-engine air tanker made several runs during the late afternoon. The plane dropped dampening slurry that eliminated the fire on the south side of Mt. Webster except for a few tiny areas still burning in early evening.

For updates, go to the Forest Services’ inciweb.org or call 498-1030. On Tuesday, the Forest Service will have its staging area at the Lower Poudre Canyon Community Center in Poudre Park. A public information officer will be onsite to provide updates.

The fire didn’t pose an immediate threat to homes and other buildings through the mile-long Poudre Park.

Firefighters from the Poudre Canyon Volunteer Fire Department set up staging areas throughout the night to protect structures in case the fire shifted direction and moved toward the community.

Smoke from the wild fire rose hundreds of feet into the blue afternoon sky and could be seen in Fort Collins, 20 miles away. This is the view from Ted’s Place near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon, 10 miles from the fire.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. 

The popular Hewlett Gulch and the Grey Rock hiking trails were closed until further notice.