VIDEO: The President of Colorado State University said the CSU Mountain Campus was spared from the Cameron Peak Fire, largely thanks to firefighters and mother nature. The campus, which is 40 miles west of Fort Collins and 4,000 feet higher in elevation, is only one mile from where the fire line recently stopped.
The mountain campus was threatened after the Cameron Peak Fire quickly grew from 35,000 acres to more than 100,000 in just three days. CSU President Joyce McConnell told CBS4’s Dillon Thomas the firefighters in the area were to credit for making sure the fire didn’t come closer than one mile in each direction.
“(If the fire continued) we would lose one of the most important high altitude scientific centers in the state, where so many people have done so much important work,” McConnell said. “(If it burned) you could see me in tears. I’m really praying that we remain protected.”