(Videos Courtesy of Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black)
Lake Christine Fire crews received the ultimate surprise when Neil Diamond stopped by the Incident Command Post to thank firefighters for their efforts.
The singer and his wife Katie stopped by the post Friday night and gave crews a special thank you with a sing along of "Sweet Caroline." "Now you have to save my house," Diamond said while thanking firefighters for their unending efforts in working to contain the blaze.
"This town has not been this happy since, I don’t know, I’ve been here for 20 years and you’ve made everybody happy," Diamond said.
Crews have been fighting nonstop as the fire flared back up less than two weeks ago due to unfavorable weather conditions. Approximately 447 personnel are currently working to contain the blaze that destroyed three homes and is 48% contained as of Saturday afternoon.
The blaze sits at an estimated 12,588 acres with temperatures expected to go into the 80s and humidity values to fall this weekend. Crews are currently working to hold and mopup the northwest corner of the fire from west to east along FS Road 509.
The fire was human caused, as two suspects accused of starting the fire turned themselves in earlier in July. 22-year-old Allison Marcus and 23-year-old Richard Miller of El Jebel were reportedly using tracer rounds at a local gun range under fire restrictions when the fire broke out.
The two suspects are now facing 4th Degree Arson and Firing Woods or Prairie charges.
